MX-5 Cup Round 1 Report
15 March 2023 / Paul Nudd (photos by Rob Wilkins)
The entry list of 20 is a little below our best last year but still a very healthy list.
One new entry who has not raced with us before, Kiara Zabetakis is a keen young racer who improved significantly over the day from a 1:59 in qualifying to a 1:51 in the SuperTT One Hour Enduro at the end of the day.
Four turbocharged MX-5s were entered, to be driven by Jaxon Fraser, Rob Krileetich, Aristo Pieratos and Sarah Medley. Sadly Sarah’s car had a problem during the Friday evening practice session and had to withdraw from Saturday’s racing. This reduced the field to 19 starters.
As per the Series Regulations class lap times are adjusted if the composition of the Cup competitor group warrants it. This was done after qualifying to achieve as even numbers of competitors as possible in each class. As a result we had 5 drivers in class C, 4 in class B, 4 in class A, 5 in Open NA and 1 in Open FI. Open NA and Open FI were combined to give 6 in the Open Class.
Some fabulous close racing followed with no collisions and no ‘rubbin’ (Rubbin’s NOT Racin’ in MX-5 Cup). A few cars had various mechanical and electronic woes throughout the day but most drivers had a trouble free run.
Outright Results
Andy Boydell won the day on 23 points with a second place and two wins in Class A.
Second on the day, also with 23 points was Jamie Martin with two wins and a second place in Class B.
Third place went to Robbie Giovenco on 22 points with a third place and two wins in the Open Class.
Class Results
Class C was won by Luke Jeffress with 21 points from a second, a third and a win.
Second was John Connolly with 20 points from a win, a fourth and a second.
Equal third on 13 points were Kiara Zabetakis and Denis Pana who both failed to finish Race 1.
Aristo Pieratos failed to finish Race 1 and did not start in the next two races and so finished with no points.
Class B was won by Jamie Martin with 23 points from two wins and a second place.
Second was Steven Head with 22 points from two seconds and a win.
Third was Craig Barney with 18 points form three third places.
Fourth was Paul Nudd with three fourth places. Paul was heading for a win in Class C until he ‘broke out’ twice, bumping into
Class B.
Class A was won by Andy Boydell with 23 points from a second and two wins.
Second was Ben Cathcart with 19 points from a win, a fourth and a third.
Equal third were Rob Herrick and Rob Kriletich both on 18 points from a third a second and a fourth and a fourth. a third and a second.
Open Class was won by Robbie Giovenco with 22 points from a third and two wins.
Second was Scott Lanham with 17 points from a fifth, a third and a second.
Third was Jacob Giovenco with 16 points from a sixth, a second and a third.
Fourth was John Fraser with 10 points from two fourths and a DNF in race 2.
Fifth was Jaxon Fraser with 8 points from a win in race 1 followed by DNF in race 2 and DNS in race 3.
Sixth was Stuart McFadyen with 7 points from a second in race 1 followed by a DNS in race 2 and a DNF in race 3.
Fastest lap in MX-5 Cup was recorded by Jaxon Fraser with 1:43.2767 in MX-5 Cup qualifying.
Fastest lap on the day including all categories was recorded by Todd Herring in his MX-5 turbo with 1:38.4717 in SuperTT race 1. Todd went on to win the SuperTT one hour enduro.
The next MX-5 Cup event will be Round 2 at the SMSP GP Circuit again on Saturday 15th July.
Rob Wilkins album of photos from the event is available on Flicker: MX-5 Cup Round 1 Album
Thanks Rob.
