THE FIRST FOCUS Radical Cup Australia Series will go down to Championship Sunday at Mount Panorama following a clutch race win by Cooper Cutts on Saturday.
Needing to beat Peter Paddon in both races this weekend, Cutts qualified on pole and led from lights to flag to claim the first 50-minute race at the Supercheap Auto Bathurst International to ensure he can take the title battle into Sunday’s finale.
However, series leader Peter Paddon finished second to ensure he still retains a 37-point lead going into Sunday.
It means a fifth-placed finish or better – should Cutts win race two – will ensure the First Focus driver wins the championship tomorrow.
The first race was held in crisp and perfect conditions on Saturday morning and ran trouble-free throughout the duration.
Starting from pole, Cutts jumped into an early lead aboard his Arise Racing machine and edged away from second-placed Justin Tigani, Paddon following in third. Paddon worked his way past Tigani on lap three, Bryce Moore following him through to take third position in the process.
Cutts was able to pull away from Paddon early in the race, extending his margin to nearly 10 seconds before they both pitted on lap six to execute their compulsory stop. A majority of the top-10 pitted as soon as the window opened, Nick Kelly – running fourth at the time – the only one of the leading group to remain out.
Cutts and Paddon remained lock-step on completing their stops, while Chris Reindler took over the Arise Racing entry he shares with Bryce Moore.
Kelly and second-placed Terry Knowles pitted on lap 10, the latter handing his car over to Barton Mawer for the run home. Andrew Eldridge remained out, leading his first Radical laps at Mount Panorama in the process.
The race was cleansed by lap 11, allowing Cutts to return to the top of the leaderboard with 15 minutes remaining in the race, the Arise racer 18 seconds in front of Paddon, with Chris Reindler a further seven seconds down the road.
The young West Aussie ultimately cruised to the fifth win of the 2024 season by nearly thirty seconds, with Paddon a safe second with his series lead in the back of his mind. Cutts also comfortably set the race’s fastest lap, with his best at 2m11.1630s.
Chris Reindler and Bryce Moore finished within sight of Paddon to claim third outright, while Nick Kelly was fourth and Mark Brame fifth, the pair 1-2 in the Am class in Race one.
Barton Mawer brought home the car he shares with Terry Knowles in sixth, with Warwick Morris seventh, Ash Samadi eighth and Brad Russell ninth.
Having led during the pit stop sequence, Andrew Eldridge finished tenth.
Of the other key contenders, Peter Clare and Josh Hunt were early non-finishers, their car coming to pit lane on the second lap of the race and taking no further part.
The final race of the 2024 First Focus Radical Cup Australia Series will commence at 12:50pm with live coverage on 7plus Sport on Sunday as part of the Supercheap Auto Bathurst International.