Dean Tighe’s preparation for October’s Motorsport Australia Hill Climb Championship has been handed a major boost after claiming victory in the fifth round of the Motorsport Australia New South Wales Hillclimb Championship.

The event saw more than 40 competitors compete at the Ringwood Park Motorsport Complex on the weekend, however it was Tighe who set the fastest time of 59.86 seconds after a strong weekend.

In addition to his victory, Tighe also became the first driver in the course’s history to go sub one minute, breaking the previous standing record on two occasions, his second run being more than two seconds faster.


Finishing seven seconds behind with a time of 66.95 seconds was Dave Morrow, whilst the gap between he and the third placed Peter Brown was even smaller, with just one second separating the two.  

Unsurprisingly, it was the open wheelers who claimed a podium lockout, however Phil Heafey produced a mighty effort to earn himself a top five position, steering his Mitsubishi Evo to fourth place outright – three and half seconds off Brown.

Heafy wasn’t the only tin top driver to impress on the weekend, with Time Attack driver Wayne Bell placing sixth overall – just under one second off Heafy in his Datsun Stanza.


Behind him, an intriguing battle between six drivers took place with less than one second separating them all.

Peter Akers won that minor battle to seal seventh place overall with a time of 74.09 seconds, while less than three tenths off him was David Isaacs. A further tenth and half slower was David Hussey, who beat Brian Cox by the smallest of margins as only three hundredths of a second proved the difference between the two.

Just missing out on a top 10 finish was Timothy Wrightson, whose time of 74.87 seconds was only three tenths off Cox.

Unfortunately, a late downpour on the last lap of the open wheelers resulted in many other competitors choosing to abandon the final lap.

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