Twin Peaks triumph sweetens Frew's victory

Outram driver Glenn Frew shattered the Bluff Hill Climb record on Saturday, and in the process won his first Southern Twin Peaks Challenge Trophy.

Frew was on the pace from the beginning of proceedings and led throughout. He scorched up the 1.8km course in his powerful Mitsubishi EVO in a record time of 56.99sec on his second run, which was enough to take the silverware.

Two-time defending champion Duncan McCrostie set his best time in the third run but his 58.04 was more than 1sec shy of Frew's best. Frew blew a diff on his final run and failed to reach the top but victory was his by virtue of his earlier time.

It was an excellent day all round for Frew, who also claimed the Southern Twin Peaks Challenge, which is fought out over the Kaitangata and Bluff hill climbs. It was the first time anyone other than McCrostie had won it.

Frew was pleased with his result and confirmed that conditions were best during the second run of the day when most drivers set their quickest times.

High temperatures as the day progressed meant conditions were not ideal for faster times later in the day.

McCrostie admitted Frew "had the wood on me. I was hoping to get a bit closer but Glenn is very quick on tarseal".

Phil Winter, of Allanton, was consistently quick and recorded the third-fastest time overall in his Subaru WRX. Invercargill driver Steve Heffernan was fourth overall and the winner of Class E for sports and racing cars in his Van Diemen Formula Ford. Heffernan also became the inaugural winner of the Keith Douglas Memorial Trophy.

Andrew Graves, of Gore, in another Mitsubishi EVO was fifth ahead of Dean Bond, of Balclutha (EVO), Dave Wilson, of Ashburton (Toyota Celica GT4), and Winton driver Darryl Batt, who put in a fine performance to finish eighth overall in his Subaru RX.

The top 10 were rounded out by the leading Class C competitors, Murray Marshall, of Kaitangata, in a Nissan Bluebird Turbo, and Paul Gouman, of Balclutha, in a Lexus V8-powered Mazda RX7.

Their class for two-wheel-drive cars of 1601cc or more was hard fought, Marshall recording a 65.09 and Gouman a 65.30.

The defending class champion and a regular top-10 finisher in the event, Chris Hey of Mosgiel, finished third in the class ahead of early class leader Steve Cleverley.

Class B (1301-1600cc) was also close, Wallacetown driver Carter Strang winning in his Toyota in a time of 68.10 from Arrowtown's Hadley MacKay in a Citroen Saxo who recorded a time of 68.63. Balclutha driver Michael Gunn took third spot.

Invercargill driver David Robertson repeated his class win at Kaitangata seven days earlier when he took his Suzuki-powered Hillman Imp to Class A honours (0-1300cc).

Robertson's time of 70.93 headed off Tony Adamson of Queenstown in a Suzuki Swift and Gore driver Kevin Laird in another Swift.

Andrew Graves, Dean Bond and Dave Wilson were awarded the top positions in Class D as the top three overall finishers are ineligible for the class prizes.

- © Fairfax NZ News

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