CAMS NSW Hillclimb Championship » ARCHIVED REPORT: Bathurst Esses Hillclimb R2 2010

Tim Edmondson 76

Date: 17/4/10 | Host Club: Bathurst Light Car Club

BLCC again organized perfect weather on the weekend of 17/18 April for their annual double header at Bathurst.

With Peter Gumley coming off a win at Canberra and keen to regain the Esses record it was looking like a three way tussle between him in the recently slimmed down SCV, current NSW Champion Tim Edmondson (having his first run in the ex Andrew Howell Gould) and everyone’s favourite farmer, Doug Barry.

Doug’s Lola F3000 is still a handy thing, the Esses record holder in fact. Whichever way it would go, the spectators were not to be disappointed. PG grabbed the early lead from Edmondson and Barry. Tim Edmonson then went to the top of the leader board with a second run of 22.60s, Gumley moved to second on 23.28s, despite a misfiring engine.

Doug Barry waited till the final run to record 24.49s, the late afternoon sun making the run through the dipper even more interesting than usual. While this was going on Stuart Inwood (Nissan GTR) ran off and hid with the Late Model record (and fourth outright) ahead of Steve Hooker (Jedi), Malcolm Oastler in the FerraBusa (sans bodywork) and Michele Guyer (March 87B).

Steve Moxon (Axtell Suzuki) was eighth outright ahead of co driver Searle Courtright while Allan Barnes (Toyota Celica) rounded out the top Ten. Other records went to Bradley Shiels (Mazda RX7), Barrie Coady (MR2), Aidan Curlewis (Datsun Coupe) and David Rogers (Ford Falcon).

Alan Barlow – NSW Hillclimb Website Editor

EDITORS NOTES:

It was pretty amazing watching David Hill pre heat the Gould’s engine before firing it up. I wonder if that bit of kit could keep the croissants warm as well?
It was a good move to put the open wheelers at the end of the final group. Quite a few drivers took the opportunity to watch the final runs.
A mixed bag at the front end of the field. Tim got a first time win (and its quicker than the Force); Peter was clearly frustrated by a persistent miss, while Doug wasn’t entirely disappointed, at least his car still holds the outright record of 21.62s!
Saturday evening’s trophy presentation of the 2009 awards seemed to go off pretty well. Thanks again to special guest speaker Malcolm Oastler. The crowd found his talk informative and entertaining.