Date: 3/8/08 | Host Club: Newcastle MG Car Club | Sponsor: 24/7 Roadservices
A strong performance by Tim Edmondson (Force PC) saw him consolidate the outright lead of the NSW Hillclimb Championship in the tight terrain of MG Newcastle’s Ringwood Park. This course favors the lighter bike engined open wheelers and the good weather conditions certainly helped the record tally.
Local driver, Peter Robinson (PRS Ford) was quickest after the first run (30.18s) followed by Tim (30.57s), Phil Pratt (Trojan) on 31.42s, from Ron Hay, Warren Creagh Stuart Inwood and Matt Halpin all in the 32s bracket. Second runs saw the Force more into the top slot on 29.27s ahead of Robinson and Pratt.
On the third run the pace began to quicken, Edmondson bringing up FTD and a new Formula Libre 1301-2000 record of 28.81s. Then the Hayabusa power unit created some drama by setting off the dreaded noise meter on his final (fourth) run. This ended his day before the Shootout commenced but happily had no effect on the outright results.
Ron Hay slipped in a vintage effort to claim second outright and a new Group R record on 29.44s. The sound of the supercharged six cylinder RH Honda delighted the crowd, even with additional muffling added during the day! Peter Robinson finished third outright on 29.93s in his pretty PRS Ford (Hmmm car engine?) just ahead of a trio of 750cc specials belonging to Steve Moxon Phil Pratt and Searle Coutright.
Next best (and best Tin Top) was Stu Inwood’s Nissan GTR in eighth outright (and a new record) splitting the under a litre open wheelers of Jon Bown and Nick Mason with Matt Halpin (Torana) bringing up tenth outright. Others to post new class records included Bob Wootton, Dennis Roohan, and Rob Kalimacovski.
Alan Barlow – NSW Hillclimb Website Editor
EDITORS NOTES:
- Due to mechanical woes experienced at Mt Cotton, earlier in the year, Peter Gumley was an unfortunate non starter. We hear an engine upgrade for the venerable Kombi engine is underway and he has his sights firmly set on the AHCC at Bathurst early in November.
- The Pit Spy is impressed with Ron Hays recent form. It seems running a Sports 2000 in HSRCA events is keeping him sharp and the Honda has never gone better.
- The 3J Imp Prod class was ultra competitive with not much separating the field of eight.
PHOTO GALLERY:
Courtesy ebarlowphotos.com
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- Ben Durie
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- Ron Hay
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- Bob Bell
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- Steve Moxon
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- Nicole Ormerod
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- Phil Pratt
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- Matt Halpin
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- Arthur Hollins
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- Paul Finch
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- Robert Shaw
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- Tim Edmondson
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- Warren Creagh
