15th September 2009

The Radical Australia Cup made its second trip to Wakefield Park for the 2009 Championship last weekend.

Representation at the round was a little lighter than usual thanks to several participants having other commitments. Front-runners Glyn Edis and Richard Fricker were joined by Peter Opie, Geoff Brunsdon and Phil Anseline. Radical Australia's Workshop Manager and ex-V8 Supercar driver Garth Walden also made an appearance, using the meeting as an opportunity to both underscore the dominance of Radical in the category, whilst conducting in-race testing and development on behalf the Radical ownership group.

Qualifying was fast and furious, but all drivers posted good times. Walden unsurprisingly took pole, followed by Opie, Edis, Fricker, Brunsdon and Anseline, with Radicals filling five of the top seven grid slots.

Race one saw Walden scamper away from the field to post a comfortable victory, a portent of what was to come over the weekend. The real action was for the minor places, with Edis, Fricker and Opie have a race-long dice for the remaining podium spots. Richard was able to withstand the repeated attempts of Glyn and Peter to finish next Radical home, the three separated by just six-tenths of a second. Garth's fastest lap of 57.9sec emphatically broke the category lap record of 59.45secs held by Glyn Edis from the year's earlier round.

Races 2 and 3 on the Sunday saw much more challenging track conditions thanks to hotter temperatures and 70km/h winds. Walden's dominance prevailed as he rounded out the weekend with wins and fastest laps in every race. In the minor positions, Glyn Edis took a stunning second spot in Race 2 thanks to a last-corner dive under brakes to pip Richard, who himself held on to third by just one-hundredth of a second from Opie. Race 3 saw Opie finding good form to comfortably outdistance himself from Fricker and Edis, the latter who had a spin on another car's oil towards the end of the race. Brunsdon and Anseline came home well in the latter races too, meaning a 100% race completion rate for the Radical marque; starkly contrasting the high attrition of competing sportscar brands in the State Championship.

With Garth Walden ineligible for points, the Radical Australia Cup points standing is as close as nails. Glyn Edis still leads on 222 points, but Richard Fricker is just one point behind on 221 and Peter Opie on 202 points lurks if either stumble. The final round at Oran Park on October 31st should be a cracker!