GIPPSLAND Car Club’s Brett Hayward snuck onto the podium at the Australian Hillclimb Championship in Bathurst over the weekend after posting three consecutive sub 40 second runs to claim third place.
As expected the higher powered vehicles dominated at Mount Panorama as Tim Edmonson smoked the field in his Gould GR55B with a formidable 36.83-second run, shattering the old Formula Libre Over 2000cc record of 39.34.
Edmonson’s time from a standing start was comparable to those clocked by V8 Supercars from a flying start for the same section of track.
Defending champion Hayward eclipsed the 1301-2000cc record by 1.26 seconds, but no amount of driver skill could compensate for the grunt the Gippslander gave away to his interstate opponents.
Club mate Greg Ackland finished sixth overall with a credible 41.76 best run in his Ninja GA8 with Bruce Minahan the next best Gippslander in 10th place.
“Our blokes did as well as could be expected; it was a power track and those that had thumping engines in their racing cars were the winners,” GCC president John Bryant said.
“Brett did extremely well, it’s unusual that anyone would go under 40 seconds there and he did that.”
Traralgon’s Kevin Mackrell was a raging favourite for tin top honours but car troubles forced his withdrawal from the competition.
Leongatha’s Jim McNiven won the group 3D sports sedans class with GCC comrade David Cantwell in second place.
Terry Dowel knocked more than 10 seconds off the record en route to victory in the historic sedan car class in his Ford Mustang in a strong showing for GCC.
For full results go to bathurstlightcarclub.com.au
