MX-5 Cup Round 1
14 February 2019 / Words by Paul Nudd, Photos by Rob Wilkins
There was close racing throughout the field in the opening round of MX-5 Cup 2019 on Sunday 3 February. 18 MX-5s in four time-based classes had three exciting wheel to wheel races.
Competition was intense at the pointy end with Zac Raddatz and Jackson Copeman swapping the lead. Further back through the field it was just as intense. Everyone had someone to race with.
MX-5 Cup is 'entry level' 'wheel to wheel' racing where we avoid the biff and bump of other categories because we all love our MX-5s too much for that. And you don't need to spend a lot, you don't need a fire breathing turbo car to have a heap of fun and even to win the pointscore. The first four cars last year in the pointscore were naturally aspirated. Some of the MX-5s are road registered. If you don't want to use your own MX-5 you can even rent one for the day - 2 of the 18 at this round were rentals.
Final Results
Points winner on the day was Steven Head on maximum points of 24 with class C wins in all three races.
Second on 23 points was Zac Raddatz with two wins and a second in the Open class.
3rd was Jackson Copeman with 22 points for two seconds and a win in the Open class.
Class C had 4 competitors with Steven Head finishing first, Kerry Smith second, Rob Withers third and Rob Herrick fourth.
Class B had 2 competitors with Craig Barney first, Dennis Chiswick second.
Class A had 6 competitors with Tim Herring first, Stuart McFadyen second and Paul Nudd third.
The Open Class (combined) had 5 competitors with Zac Raddatz first, Jackson Copeman second and Rob Hay third.
| Competitor | Number | Points |
| Steven Head | 123 | 24 |
| Zac Raddatz | 45 | 23 |
| Jackson Copeman | 86 | 22 |
| Craig Barney | 151 | 21 |
| Kerry Smith | 5 | 21 |
| Dennis Cheswick | 83 | 18 |
| Robert Withers | 105 | 17 |
| Rob Hay | 91 | 17 |
| Robert Herrick | 25 | 16 |
| Tim Herring | 78 | 16 |
| Terry Johnson | 512 | 16 |
| Stuart McFadyen | 98 | 14 |
| Paul Nudd | 81 | 12 |
| Curran Brennan | 15 | 8 |
| Michael Hall | 75 | 8 |
| Richard Herring | 15 | 7 |
| David Lawler | 87 | 0 |
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