By Dominique Tassell
The 25th anniversary Leyburn Sprints, commemorating the 1949 Leyburn Australian Grand Prix, lived up to its reputation as one of the most popular events on the historic motorsport calendar over the weekend.
A desperate last effort clinched a fourth outright win for driver Warwick Hutchinson.
After duelling all weekend, Hutchinson trailed rival Brett Bull until he crossed the line on his ninth and last run around the 1.0 kilometre Leyburn street course.
Bull, driving a Van Dieman single-seater, booked his best time of 42.365 seconds on the ninth run and with a margin of 0.189s looked set to win his first Col Furness Memorial Trophy.
But Hutchinson, next in line for the start, flung his Mazda rotary-powered OMS28 around the track in 42.271s to claim his first Sprints victory since 2013.
“This trophy is close to my heart. I’ve been up here several times and it’s good to be back,” he said.
“Brett was in front most of the weekend and it was a really close battle. That was very satisfying to beat him on the very last run.”
Sprints President Tricia Chant said that although competitor numbers were down slightly without interstate entries due to Covid-19, the event provided plenty of action and entertainment.
“We’ve faced some challenges in the past couple of years after having to cancel the 2020 event and postpone this year’s by three weeks, but there was no sign of that at the weekend – everyone seemed to have a great time,” she said.
Tahlia Wilkins, 6, won our colouring competition and received a gift pack which included two hats, a shirt, stickers, and tickets to the sprints.
She is a year one student at Warwick Central School.
“She was so excited,” says Tahlia’s mum, Kylie.
Tahlia’s favourite car was the pink car driven by a woman.
Tahlia’s grandad, Stephen Wilkins, entered the first ever Leyburn Sprints and participated in the 15 following it.
He also participated in Formula Vee.
On both sides of the family, Tahlia has car enthusiasts.
“Cars are kind of in the blood,” her mum jokes.
