Avern takes Podium in Sydney
Sunday 4 May 2025
In just his second national race weekend, WA rising star Ruairi Avern has taken a third step podium in Round 2 of the Radical Cup Australia 2025 series. He now sits fourth overall in the series, and tops the Rookie Leaderboard.
After a wet practice day in the rain, Sydney turned on the weather for a glorious weekend of racing at the SMP. The 30-minute qualifying session on Saturday morning didn’t go as planned for Avern, finishing P10 in a field of 20 cars, which basically came down to his inexperience and still learning how to get the best out of the car on this technical track, together with some set-up fine-tuning which is normal.
After penalties were handed out to a few other drivers, Race 1 started with Avern in P8. However his gutsy determination was on show for all to see as he launched his Radical #22 over the start line, driving around the outside of the front pack by the first corner. By the end of the first lap, Avern was sitting in P3 behind the two leading XXRs where he remained until the end of the race.
Avern started Race 2 in P10, but stayed focused and delivered a solid drive to cross the line in P6, rounding out a strong first day at SMP.
Supercars Driver and Coach for Arise Racing, Macca Jones reflected on a strong opening day for the Arise team: “Good start to the weekend with plenty of laps from the team. Some key takeaways and some improvements to be made, but still lots learnt. It’s a challenging track that creates some great racing.”
Sunday brought the heat for Arise - with wins, podiums and full send-it moments – and some learning moments for Avern. The starting grid for Race 3 was determined by the results of Race 1, so he started in P3 position. Unfortunately he didn’t get a great start, losing a place,but managed to claw back his position quickly and crossed the finish line in P3. However, he was penalised after the race for not slowing down sufficiently for a car that had stopped on track, largely as a result of being under pressure from the car behind, and was given a 15-second penalty that resulted in him being dropped down to P6 for the last race.
It was there for the taking in Race 4, an exciting race, and Avern managed to make up three places to P3 during the first lap. He had an opportunity to challenge for P2 at one point but in the end, he simply couldn’t match the faster pace of the newer generation XXRs and ended up finishing P4.
The calculation of points from the four races meant that Avern took a 3rd overall in this national Radical Cup round, and still leads the Radical Rookie category.
“Rowdy’s progress on a brand new track was a real highlight. He’s developing fast and learning to deliver under pressure” said Macca Jones.