GRAFTON ROLLS OUT THE BLACK CARPET!
Date: 9/6/19 | Host: GSCC
A brand new surface greeted 57 competitors for round 5 of the championship at Mountain View Complex in Grafton.
The new asphalt had many excited and keen to attack the 968m course.
A wet practice on Saturday did little to dampen spirits with most reporting that even in the deluge, adhesion was noticeably impressive.
A real buzz in the pits all weekend.
The fog eventually cleared to a sunny day of official competition on Sunday and it was smiles all round.
Greasy first runs gave competitors a taste, before the track dried out mid morning for close-to-ideal conditions.
A substantial gathering of spectators were in attendance to soak up the action of the best hillclimbers around and they certainly were entertained with some hard chargers and exciting class battles.
Dean Tighe (43.51) was the fastest on the day in his F1 Judd V8 powered Dallara open wheeler, taking F/L 2.5+ class win by a large margin.
Well driven Dean! Ken Norton (49.12) was quickest in F/L 1.3-2.0L while Dave Morrow (47.43) took out F/L 0.75-1.3L.
Steven King (48.39) hopped, skipped and jumped his way to victory in the modified go kart in F/L <0.75.
Dick Willis (53.28) claimed victory in Historic L and Garry Ford (48.98) was again very impressive in Historic U with his v8 powered escort.
3D Sports Sedans 3.0+ was won by Ryan McSwann (50.48) and Jukka Ylinen (54.49) was fastest in 3D1.3-2.0L. Loiuse Hayes (58.48) got the better of Joshua in the same car in 3D<1.3L.
IP4WD saw Tim Blake (50.20) on top in his WRX while 3JIP late model 2.0+ was clinched by Geoff Brisby (53.37) in the Clubsport. 3JIP3.0+ went to Simon McDonald (50.83).
The little yellow Datto that could was driven extremely well in 3JIP2.0-3.0L by husband and wife Ken (49.97) and Pauline Graham (49.89), with Pauline coming out on top: well done!
3JIP1.6-2.0L was one of the biggest classes and saw some great battles throughout the day. In the end, victory went to Bill Heuchmer (50.62) from a hard charging Steve Brydie (50.95) while 3JIP<1.6L was won by Gregory King (55.83).
James Pearson (49.22) set a new class record in 2BProd Sports 1.6L+ in his RX-7 while in 2ASports1.6+, Kendall O’Conner (52.25) piloted his MX-5 to class victory.
RRAWD went to Greg Slade (50.86) in the lancer Evo and RR2.5L+ victory was to Wayne Grosser (51.89) in his Ford FPV.
Another great battle in RR<2.5L saw Garry Christopherson (52.48) take victory and a new class record from Graham Orr (52.58) in the CRX.
Well done GSCC on another brilliant event and a huge thanks to all involved in the hugely successful weekend.
Words by James Pearson
RESULTS:
Top 5 Open Wheelers:
Dean Tighe (43.51)
Dave Morrow (47.43)
Steven King (48.39)
Stan Pobjoy (48.71)
Ken Norton (49.12)
Top 5 Tin Tops:
Garry Ford (48.98)
James Pearson (49.22)
Pauline Graham (49.89)
Ken Graham (49.97)
Tim Blake (50.20)
Top 5 Outright:
Fastest Lady: Pauline Graham (49.89)
Fastest Junior: Riley McQueen (53.79)
IMAGE GALLERY:
Images from this event can be found at the Jessica Royal Photography Facebook Page at the following link below:
YOUTUBE VIDEOS: