The Bend Motorsport Park played host to the 2025 finales for the First Focus Radical Cup Australia and Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli, with Group S rounding out the SRO Shannons Speed Series program.
First Focus Radical Cup Australia
Cutts delivered Arise Racing its maiden title with a commanding victory in the season finale, crossing the line nine seconds clear of Garth Walden Racing’s Peter Paddon.
“It’s been a really tough year and obviously, huge congrats to Pete as well. We fought so hard all year, and even today it, was a really intense battle. But yeah, really happy to get it done,” Paddon said.
Paddon, the 2024 champion, made the stronger start and led the opening five laps before Cutts seized the advantage at Turn 1. Both stopped a lap later for their compulsory pitstops, briefly promoting Bryce Moore before the order settled.
Despite a brief safety car period after Ibby Hadeed went off at Turn 18, Cutts reasserted control and left Paddon to fend off Ruairidh Avern, eventually holding second by just half a second.
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Brad Russell finished fourth and claimed AM class honours, narrowly ahead of rival Terry Knowles. Zig Fuhrmeister took third in AM and first for the round, followed by Mark Cirillo/Dave Allan, Dylan Canto, and Chris Reindler, who had taken over from Moore.
Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli
In the second of two 30-minute races, Cheng stormed to outright victory, comfortably seeing off his Coppa Shell (Ferrari 296 Pro-Am) class opposition.
Gittany crossed the line 0.8s behind to claim Trofeo Pirelli (296 Pro) honours, with Jim Pollicina third outright and second in TP.
After qualifying sixth, Pollicina charged to third on the opening lap and resisted a strong challenge from Cameron Campbell, who spun at Turn 6 on lap five. Campbell recovered to finish fourth, 1.4s down.
Rod Wilson (TP) finished fifth, followed by David Trewern, who secured second in Coppa Shell ahead of Aemel Nordin, Masahiro Taguchi, Tony Baildon, and TP4 (488 EVO) winner Paul Brockbank.
Group S Classic Sports Cars
Graham Gulson completed a clean sweep with wins in Races 2 and 3 as Porsche 911 Carreras locked out the top four in both contests.
Overnight rain left the circuit damp for Race 2, where Gulson led early before being briefly passed by Doug Barbour. He quickly regained the advantage and drove clear for the win, ahead of Geoff Morgan, who surged late to second, and Barbour in third.
The Corvette battle between Ray Narkiewicz and Stephanos Constantinidis allowed Alex Webster to sneak into fourth on the final lap after Constantinidis spun. Joe Calleja (Corvette) edged Narkiewicz for fifth, with Constantinidis recovering to 10th behind Andrew Whiteside (911), Chris Meulengraaf (Datsun 240Z) and Tom Walstab (Porsche 928).
In the finale, Gulson built a 12-second lead before fading after pushing too hard early on. Morgan and Barbour reeled him in but couldn’t deny him the victory. Webster again took fourth ahead of Calleja and James Calvet-Jones (911), who climbed from the rear of the grid. Whiteside, Meulengraaf, John Harrison (Lotus Super 7) and Bill Robinson (911) — spun in Race 2’s opening lap — rounded out the top 10.
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