Anastasi wins exciting hillclimb

The warm and sunny weather of last Sunday was ideal for motor racing and hill climbing.

The 54 drivers, who took part in the race at Gnejna, reveled in the excellent conditions and provided the hundreds of spectators that lined the hill with some spectacular competition.

After four exciting runs, it was 25-year-old Joshua Anastasi, in his John Bull Racing/Dunlop JBR3 Kawasaki, who smashed the existing record on the route to win the third round of the championship in style.

After the second of four runs, it was already clear that this was going to be a record-breaking day with four drivers below the previous best time.

At the end of the runs, Anastasi won from veteran Lino Brincat's Bardahl Dallara Alfa Romeo by a miniscule 13 hundredths of a second.

Third place on the day went to Paul Deguara (Motoflash Yamaha R1). He was less than a 1/10 further adrift from Brincat.

Anastasi's record time of 34.871 was set on his third run. That timing was 1.3 seconds below the previous hill record established by Brincat last November.

Mistra race winner Zach Zammit was fourth overall with his Jagger Ralt Honda 2000 and current champion Hubert Camilleri fifth in his Chevron Cosworth 2000.

Matthew Zammit rounded off the top six with his Service Express Van Diemen Suzuki GSXR.

Mark Galea's quick Subaru Impreza WRX was ninth overall and fastest 'tin top', narrowly beating Nikolai Degiorgio's Good Earth Lancia Delta Integrale.

Joseph Cutajar won Group 5 with his Escort 2000, Daniel Vella won Group 2, with his Toyota GT Turbo, and Joe Vella won Group 1 in his Honda CRX.

With three rounds and three different winners so far (Brincat at Mizieb, Zammit at Mistra and Anastasi at Gnejna), the championship sees Anastasi at the top of the standings with 22 points. Brincat has 19, Zammit 18, Camilleri 17 and Deguara 16.

The next round of the ICC Championship will be held at Xaghra, Gozo, on May 11.