Dean Tighe has bounced back from recent heartache in Queensland to win the CAMS Mantic Clutch New South Wales Hill Climb Championship’s fifth round.
Taking place at the Grafton Sporting Car Club’s Mountain View Motorsport Complex, The 1995 Dallara 395 pilot was far too good for his closest rivals, posting the fastest time in every run, including his winning time of 43.51 seconds.
Unlike the recent Eureka Landscape CAMS Queensland Hill Climb Championship, where Tighe held advantage for the whole day until the last run, at no point throughout the weekend did he look like was going to relinquish his lead, and by the end of the event, Tighe comfortably sealed the win.
Coming in second, almost four seconds behind, was Dave Morrow. The 1986 Kryger Suzuki driver getting his fastest time on his third attempt of the course, but like most of the day, he trailed Tighe, earning him a well deserved best of the rest tag.
Rounding out the podium was Steven King, who like Morrow, picked up his fastest time of 48.39 seconds on his third run of the day, but he was unable to improve for the remainder of the event.
The battle for the remaining two spots in the top five were completed in similar fashion with both Stan Pobjoy and Garry Ford also recording their best times on their third attempts of the day – Pobjoy coming out on top by two tenths of a second.
It was an unfortunate way to finish for Ford, who had guided his 1970 Ford Escort to a solid finish during the Formula Libre dominated event and despite beating Pobjoy in four of the five runs, it was the loss in the one that matterd that saw him place fifth outright.
Coming in at eighth outright was the fastest female of the event with Pauline Graham securing an impressive 49.89 second run – the next best female being Karen Wilson who placed 33rd outright with a time of 53.51 seconds.
Just one position behind Wilson in the outright standings was the faster junior of the event with Riley McQueen steering his 2002 Holden Commodore to a 53.79 second finish.
Click here to view the full results from the CAMS Mantic Clutch New South Wales Hill Climb Championship’s fifth round.