The CAMS New South Wales Hill Climb Championship has begun for 2019 with a huge weekend at the iconic Mount Panorama.
It was a who’s who of the states’ biggest hill climb stars taking on the ultimate double round season opener.
Headlined by last year’s CAMS Australian Hill Climb Champion Malcolm Oastler and national place getters Dean Tighe and Dean Amos, more than 80 drivers had runs at both The Esses track and Mountain Straight across both days.
It didn’t take long for the 2018 national champion to assert his dominance over the competition, Oastler requiring just two runs in the first round to produce his winning time of 21.71 seconds, while Tighe and Amos finished second and third respectively.
Tighe set his fastest time on the third run and he was unable to beat his time of 23.34 seconds on the remaining two runs. As for Amos, he needed all five opportunities for his final time, posting his best time of 23.73 on his final run of the round.
Coming just outside the top three, seven tenths of a second behind Amos was another Formula Libre class driver in Ron Hay and his Gould GR55B, Hay comfortably securing fourth by just under a second ahead surprise packet Phil Heafey.
Behind the wheel of the Mitsubishi Evo VI, Heafey was the best of the rest, his time of 25.22 seconds earning a well deserved top five finish and a Group 3D Sports Sedans over 30 class record, which previously stood at 25.30 seconds.
Coming in as the number one driver for the juniors was Riley MacQueen, the Holden Commodore pilot placing in 31st outright and third in his 13-car class.
For the females, Karen Wilson steered her Ford Focus RS to victory, her final run time of 30.62 seconds securing her the both the Ladies Cup and 41st outright.
Click here for the round one results.
Not much changed during the blockbuster event’s second round as Oastler once again flexed his muscles on the Mountain Straight, only this time he used up all his runs to make sure victory was certain.
The OMS 28 pilot ended the second round one and half seconds faster than the runner-up which for this round was Amos, who managed a brilliant final run to cut more than half a second off his previous best run.
Rounding out the podium two and half seconds slower was Tighe, while Hay ended the round in fourth place once again.
Fellow Formula Libre class driver Michael Von Rappard managed to overcome his disappointing first round to break into the top five at the expense of Heafey, who remarkably broke the class record for the second consecutive day.
MacQueen backed up his junior victory by taking top spot as well as third in the class, however he was able to move up the outright standings, finishing in 27th with a time of 52 seconds flat.
Like MacQueen, Wilson managed to pull a solid performance in the second day of action – completing her Ladies Cup winning time on her final run of the day, however she fell in the outright standings, ending the round in 48th.
Click here for the round two results.
The next round of the CAMS New South Wales Hill Climb Championship will be at Fairbairn Park in Canberra on 7 April.