Sydney 300 delivers again
The 2025 edition of the Viola Sydney 300 was won by Jackson Copeman and Harrison Cooper, in what was a highly dramatic and attritional race. While, the other support categories made it a memorable day at Sydney Motorsport Park.
The Sydney 300 is a grass roots racing enduro which again featured a capacity grid of 60 cars enter the race. It is open to almost any type of vehicle from Improved Production cars to Production Cars, MX5s, BMW E36s and everything in between.
In addition to the 300km race, a variety of support categories were on show. Two of the feature categories were Legend Cars Australia and the Jeremy Hodges Memorial Cup for Hyundai Excel competitors. Other racing series were BMW E36s, Alfa Romeos, MX5s and MGs.
Sydney 300
At one stage late in the race Jackson Copeman and Harrison Cooper were a lap off the lead, however, such was there pace they came back to take the win.
The race threw up a safety car and some rain in the final 15 laps, and it turned the 300km race on its head.
Copeman and Cooper dominated early, but their second compulsory pitstop was taken under green flag conditions and buried them in the pack. They were hoping and praying for a late race safety car, and they got just that.
After the restart, the Mazda MX5 marched through the field to take not only Division A honours, but also the outright win by over 40 seconds, this however does not show how close the race was late on.
Their closest challengers, who looked set for a certain victory just 10 laps earlier, suffered mechanical issues late in the day. Jamie Miller and Jason Miller driving the Stokes Skis Australia Mitsubishi Evo 9 limped across the line in ninth.
Second went the way of Zac Raddatz and David Raddatz in another MX5, after making their way by Matthew and Aaron Giuntini in the closing stages of the race. By finishing second the Raddatz’s secured Division B honours.
The Giuntini duo may have lost second late in the night but scored a podium for the second straight year (having finished second in 2024).
Alex and Dieter Holzl came home in fourth in their BMW 1M, that rewarded them victory in Division C.
Jamie Martin and Ben Oldfield won Division D, while Simon Agar went back-to-back in Division E, this time alongside Hayden Crossland.
Many former race winners had issues including the reigning race winner Todd Herring, teamed up with his son Jett, there night ended early with mechanical issues, while pole sitter and 2023 winner Benny Tran and Damon Ashton finished 16 laps down.
Legend Cars Australia
Across the course of the day and into the night Legend Cars Australia had three 15-minute races, all of which were won by Cody Brewczynski.
In Race 1 he beat former TA2 Series winner Dylan Thomas and reigning champion Ryan Pring by over 3s.
A late race safety car in the second affair meant that it was not such a big victory margin, he held off the field to win from Robert Hogan and Thomas.
The final took place under lights, but that did not stop Brewczynski. In the five lap race he dominated, winning by over 6s from Shane Tate and Hogan.
The consistent Hogan finished second for the round ahead of Thomas.
Hyundai Excel Jeremy Hodges Memorial Cup
Racing in honour of Jeremy Hodges, two one-hour Hyundai Excel Enduro races were held at Sydney Motorsport Park.
After winning both races last year, Monique Sciberras and Wil Longmore won Race 1, Longmore came from quite far down the leaderboard when the safety car was called mid-race.
He used this to his advantage, quickly picking them off and taking the win.
Caleb Hefren and Preston Breust came home in second ahead of Wayne Jones, the two separated by just 0.1s at the line, but a closer finish was to come.
Race 2 saw a drag race to the line, Hefren and Breust had led a majority of the race, however, a couple of errors on the final lap allowed Tim Colombrita and Lewis Buhagiar to close up.
It was a drag race out of the final corner with Buhagiar pinching the victory on the line by a margin of 0.013s.
The win also saw Colombrita and Buhagiar pip Hefren and Breust to the Jeremy Hodges Memorial Cup.
Connor Cooper was third in the final, while Sciberras and Longmore were third for the round.
Alfa Romeos and BMW E36s
Mark Baggetto won two of the three races in the Alfas category, but retired on the first lap of the final race. This opened the door for Simon Greirson to take the win, Greirson himself retired from Race 1.
Otis Sands and Rob Boaden battled all day in the E36s, Sands got the better of Boaden by 0.3s in the first two races. However, the experienced Boaden responded to win the final.
Sands did enough to win the round overall.
Mazda MX5s and MGs
Brad Herring clean swept the round in MX5s, he was challenged in all three races, but was able to prevail in all.
John Fraser was the runner-up in two of the three races, while Tim Herring missed out on victory by less than 0.2s in the second encounter.
The MG field whittled away over the course of the day, but Brayden Taylor showed both speed and consistency while his closest rivals dropped out, he continued to win, taking a clean sweep.
The Sydney 300 and many of the support category races throughout the day were streamed by Blend Line TV and can be viewed on their website or YouTube channel.