The Bathurst Light Car Club has kicked off the 2021 Mantic Clutch Motorsport Australia New South Wales Hill Climb Championship in style, hosting the opening two rounds of the season at the famous Mount Panorama.
With more than 80 competitors entered on both days each and getting around four runs at the famous circuit on both days, there was plenty of action throughout the weekend as the fight at the top of the time sheets proved a thrilling contest.
Taking out top honours in both rounds was a familiar face in Dean Amos, while fellow national heavyweights Dean Tighe, Ron Hay, David Mahon and Greg Ackland all put up a good fight but couldn’t prevail.
Starting on Saturday with reverse runs up the circuit’s iconic Esses, it was Ackland who actually started off strongest, steering his Ninja GA81 to the fastest time before Amos stole the lead on his second attempt.
Unfortunately, Ackland was forced to sit out for the remainder of the day and Amos took advantage, producing the round winning time of 22.25 seconds on his final run for the day.
Despite not running the next two sessions, Ackland’s first run was enough to secure second place over a fast charging Mahon.
Sunday’s action took place on the mountain straight and unlike the opening day, Amos was unchallenged from the start as he posted the fastest time on every run he took part in – the eventual event winning run of 37.05 seconds happening on his final go.
With Ackland out of the second day, and neither Tighe nor Mahon able to dramatically improve on their times, second place ended up going to a deserving Hay - whose middle run of 41.60 seconds was enough to finish second ahead of Mahon.
As the Formula Libras dominated the competition, the best of the rest came in the form of Zac Le Lievre, who guided his Westfield Megabusa to a six and fifth respectively.
Out of the tin tops, Neville Shears proved the fastest on Saturday, picking up seventh place behind Le Lievre on Sunday in his Nissan GTR Nismo R35 before Datsun 260Z driver Kevin Mackrell was the competitor to finish behind the Megabusa on Sunday, placing sixth overall.
Other notable results saw Karen Wilson break into the outright top 40 as the fastest female on Saturday, while Eva Fil and Louise Hayes were faster than Wilson on Sunday.