Bayview Hotel Pub Charity Bluff Hillclimb

Preparations Almost Complete For Second Bayview Hotel Pub Charity Bluff Hillclimb

Preparations are almost complete for Saturday's Bayview Hotel Pub Charity Bluff "where the journey begins" Sealed Hillclimb.

The event will cover the same 1.6 kilometre stretch of road to the summit of the hill as used last year for the inaugural event.

Defending champion Ross MacKay of Ashburton returns, although his title winning Mitsubishi EVO will not. MacKay damaged the car in a recent event in Dunedin and he was so keen to return he has leased a Toyota Corolla for the hillclimb. "It's not a winning car," he said recently, "but it was bloody great down there last year and I really rate the people.

Last year's runner - up, Stephen Heffernan of Invercargill, will also return on Saturday. Heffernan will race a Van Diemen Formula Ford again this year but it will be an older car than the one he used last time. The hill is a bumpy proposition in a high speed single seater and Heffernan
only gives himself an outside chance of victory on the hill. "You can't beat those 4 wheel drives" he say's.

There are several other strong contenders for the hillclimb title this weekend. Glen Frew of Outram won the Flying Lap, 1/4 mile sprint and Bent Sprint in last weekend's Eastern Southland Car Club event at Teretonga in his very powerful EVO 3. Andrew Graves of Gore will also drive an EVO in the event. Graves, best known as a rally co - driver, had a sensational debut season behind the wheel in southern rallies last season.

Last year's 4th placegetter, Duncan McCrostie of Kaitangata, will return in his Nissan Bluebird Turbo, rebuilt for last year's Silver Fern Rally while Mosgiel driver Chris Hey in a Toyota MR2 powered by a Nissan SR20 Turbo engine is another strong chance.

Julian Prior - Stockwin is also among the entries after a heavy crash at Teretonga in December that severely damaged his Holden Commodore and sent him to hospital. Both the Commodore and Julian have been restored and will attack the hill this Saturday.

Over thirty entries have been received for the event with each car receiving four runs throughout the day to set their best time.

The action will get underway on Saturday at 11am and once again this year there is an extremely lucrative prize at stake. The 2007 Bayview Hotel Pub Charity Bluff "where the journey begins" Sealed Hillclimb winner will win a spot in the DFAC Challenge at the Silverstone Race To The Sky at Cardrona this Easter. The DFAC Challenge is fought out in Dong Feng trucks during the lunch break at the prestigious international event on both 7/8 April.

One lucky competitor in the field will also win a return trip to Stewart Island courtesy of Stewart Island Experience while local radio station, More FM have been running a competition during the week where the public try to pick the winning time. The person with the closest estimate also wins a Stewart Island Experience return trip to Stewart Island. MacKay's winning time from last year was 1 minute 03.403 seconds.

The Bayview Hotel Pub Charity Bluff "where the journey begins" Sealed Hillclimb is a joint venture between instigators Bluff Promotions and both the Southland Sports Car Club and the Eastern Southland Car Club.

Television coverage of the event will be shown at a later date on both Prime and Sky Television.

Additional support for the event comes from Challenge Bluff, Rakiura Motors, Lyons Auto Electric Ltd and BNT Automotive.

ENDS

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