CAMS NSW Hillclimb Championship » ARCHIVED REPORT: Grafton Hillclimb R5 2014

HAYWARD AGAIN!

Date: 8/6/14 | Host Club: Grafton Sporting Car Club | Sponsor: Grafton Mobile Batteries

Despite heavy rain the weekend before and the predicted showers for Sunday Grafton turned on a perfect weekend for round five of the Championships. Brett Hayward , fresh from his new outright record at Mt Cotton the weekend before made the trip back up to Grafton from Leongatha, to run his Hayward 014, Darryl Watt made a welcome return in the Force PC , and Glen Amos was running the Gould GR 37. Add to these the regular runners, Malcolm Oastler in his Dallara, Doug Barry in the Lola, and Ron Hay in the Synergy Dallara, and the competition for FTD was going to be fierce.

Darryl Watt set the pace in practice with Oastler close behind, and Hayward showing concerns about an engine miss. First run on Sunday saw the order Oastler on 44.79s set the pace followed by Watt, Hayward and Amos, Second run saw Watt take the lead on 44.17s then Hayward, Oastler, who lowered the under 1300cc record to 43.62, and Doug Barr posting his best time for the day.

Third run saw Hayward, on new tyres run off on the first corner, so the order was Oastler, Barry, Watt. Fourth run and Hayward’s new tyres were starting to work so the order was Hayward 43.19 From Qastler and Watt, then Barry and Amos. Last run for the day and still Tim Edmondson’s outright record was intact, Oastler was a fraction slower, but Hayward pulled off another of his special runs to lower the outright record to 42.47s.

Terry Hartman made a welcome return to win the 3K saloon class, and Geoff Boyd won the Open and Closed Sports cars after Alan Barlow damaged his motor at Mt Cotton the weekend before and missed the event. Locals Scott Dean, Matt and Bill Cowper fought out the Improved Production up to 1600cc and locals Martin Jordan and Adam Kane again fought out the Improved Production over 3000cc.

James Morrison and Sam Hollier continued their battle in Late Model Improved production with Morrison on top. Craig Albertson and Tim Blake held out the local pair of Ian O’Toole and Luke McLachlan in the Late Model Improved production,FI and AWD Ross Liddle took out the Sports Sedans 1301 to 2000cc from Phillip Edwards. The Over 3000cc Sports Sedans was the best supported category and resulted in a win for Garry Ford making a welcome appearance from Nicholas Contojohn and Matt Halpin.

Good to see Peter Quayle and Dick Willis running their Historic Group M machines, although Dick had an engine problem on his last run, hopefully with not to much damage. Graham Diskin brought out his Torana to give Ron Gallagher some competition and Dave Morrow gave his Seco Ford Clubman a run as the Kryger Suzuki was undergoing a rebuild in preparation for the Australian in November.

Steve Purdy put on his usual performance, but did not get down to his record for Historic S[b]and Mike Gosbell brought out the JWF Milano to run in Historic Group L. David Oliver took the points in road registered under 2500cc although beaten by the local knowledge of Greg Slade and Trevor Herne.

Road Registered over 2500cc was won by Dejan Buneta from Geoff Brisby, Michael Miller and Liam O’Brien, Gary Crilly and Daniel Hollier continured their tussle in the Road Registered AWD class. Grafton Sporting Car Club must be congratulated for the way the event ran, and for turning on perfect weather for the regular competitors who made the journey North, and had good competition.

Ron Hay – NSW Hillclimb Advisory Panel Secretary