Archive
Radical Australia Cup Kicks Off
23rd March 2009
The first round of the Radical Australia Cup for 2009 was held at Sydney's Eastern Creek International Raceway on Saturday 21st/Sunday 22nd March.
The series is in it's fledgling year in Australia, running on the NSW Motor Race Championship card. The Radical Cup operates within the "Racing and Sportscar" category, effectively as a "race within a race". There will be 7 rounds throughout the remainder of the year.
The weekend's opening round saw 36 entries, with the field comprising roughly a third in each of Racing cars (predominantly F3 and F3000), Clubmans and Sportscars. The Sportscar field featured representation from West, Prosport, Minetti and ADR along with the six Radical SR3s.
Qualifying on Saturday was morning was punctuated by intermittent but heavy showers, causing tyre choice chaos for the participants in the short 20 minute qualifying window. The Radicals were not disgraced with all cars posting times which put them on the front half of the grid. Saturday afternoon's Race 1 was declared wet, with Glyn Edis finishing a strong 3rd. Unlike nearly a quarter of the rest of the field, the remaining Radical contingent kept it on the black stuff to achieve a top-15 finish.
Sunday dawned sunny and clear, and it was expected the open wheelers would feature. The two races did see see Glyn Edis bested again, but only by two F3 cars. Glyn's fast, consistent driving earnt him 2 thirds and a 4th outright giving him not just the Radical Australia Cup first round victory but also the overall Sportscar class round honours. Even better, at time of print, he is likely to take out outright round points victory for the Racing and Sportscar category. Richard Fricker's SR3 harried Glyn constantly to finish one spot back in all races, while Chris Medland, Byron Smith, Phil Anseline and Peter Opie all finished strongly up the field, belying their status as first-ever-event racers.
Radical certainly turned heads off the track, too. Visitors to the paddock bore witness to the early stages of the Radical Australia headquarters relocation. Radical are the first and only race team or manufacturer to be offered residence at Eastern Creek. Customers, employees and friends of Radical enjoyed BBQ lunch hospitality in the soon-to-be-renovated workshop. Most were amazed to see another half-dozen SR3s in the "shed" being prepared for upcoming motorsport rounds. There was no question the pits were buzzing with the clear evidence that Radical are a manufacturer and team to be taken seriously.
