Camilleri blasts to victory

Hubert Camilleri delivered a reminder that he will be among the candidates for the ICC Hill Climb and Sprint Championship this year after winning the first race of the season in Miżieb on Sunday.

Camilleri was impeccable all day, driving four masterly climbs to head the standings at the end of all four. He was again on board his reliable Chevron Cosworth 2000 with which he has already won nine championships.

Can he make it 10? Surely, his performance at Miżieb is a reliable indicator of his potential.

The new season brought about some new changes in the rules. One of the updates streamlined the groups down to four.

The hill climb followed the established format of two practice runs followed by two timed runs. In all, 45 cars registered for the race in Miżieb.

Sixteen were in Group 1 (standard production cars), 10 in Group 2 (modified production cars), seven in Group 5 (highly-modified silhouette cars), and an impressive 12 in Group 6 (single-seaters).

At the end of it all, airline pilot James Dunford (Subaru Impresa), took the honours in Group 1 with a very respectable 20th place overall.

Malta hill climb champion from the 70s, Anthony Bernard found time to have another go with his potent Mitsubishi EVO and promptly planted it into 13th place overall and fastest runner in Group 2.

The man to beat in Group 5 was young David Libreri (Mitsubishi Evo 8). He drove his EVO in the midst of a gaggle of single-seaters, finishing the day an incredible seventh overall.

Exciting fare was not missing in Group 6, with first-timers Alan Curmi (JBR-3 Kawasaki) and Jamie Sammut (Reynard Cosworth 2-litre) sporting their new cars.

Also brand new was Joshua Anastasi's JBR-4. His excellent fourth place overall was way above expectations and augurs well for the future, particularly the Sicilian championship this year.

Perhaps the biggest surprise in Group 6 was the performance of young Gordon Farrugia and his little OMS Honda Turbo.

Farrugia has been persevering with this car for the last two seasons but at Miżieb all the hard work seemed to suddenly become worthwhile with him placing a creditable sixth place overall.

Fifth, despite another bout of bad luck, was Steve Zammit Cutajar whose promising performance in his smart Tatuus Hyabusa came to nil when he lost a front wing on leaving the start, with the resultant loss of front end grip.

Another driver on whom Lady Luck certainly wasn't shining on Sunday was the winner of the 2008 Miżieb Hill Climb, Paul Deguara (Motoflash Yamaha). He met all sort of problems and didn't manage a single trouble-free run.

On Sunday, I can't say I was surprised to see Johan Spiteri (Jedi Yamaha) in the top three as with every outing he has become more and more confident with the car.

Two years ago and nearing the age of 60, 2006 champion Lino Brincat told me he was seriously thinking of retiring. It didn't happen. At the end of last season the old boy was having similar thoughts, yet now he is still performing right up there at the highest level and last Sunday he drove his Dallara Alfa Romeo to an excellent second place overall behind Camilleri.

The Clerk of the Course at Miżieb was Robert Calafato. The other officials were: Alfred Sant (chief marshal), Barry Owen (scrutineer), Duncan Barbaro Sant (secretary of the meeting) and Hugh Arnett (chief steward).