The Historic Leyburn Sprints has been run and done for another year with one competitor standing tall to claim a decisive 10th outright win.
Peter Brock may have claimed a record nine Bathurst wins during is decorated racing career, but out in the wilds of Queensland, Dean Amos has gone one better to claim top step on the podium at the Historic Leyburn Sprints for the 10th time.
Alright, we get it, there’s really no comparison between Brocky’s superhuman efforts at one of the world’s most challenging circuits and Dean’s incredible stranglehold on Leyburn’s 1.0 km closed-street course, but credit where credit’s due.
Dean faced off against a record 250 cars ranging in vintage from 1924 to 2024 to continue his unbeaten run at the Sprints, racing his British-built Gould GR55B V8 open-wheeler to a decisive 10th outright win at the weekend.
The two-time Australian Hillclimb Champion set a best lap of 40.163 seconds on Sunday morning in his fourth of seven runs around Leyburn’s 1.0 km closed-street course. He missed bettering his 2019 record by less than 0.8 seconds.
Despite the success, Lismore-based Amos bemoaned a missed opportunity to reset his lap record due to a long-term shortage of specialist Italian Pirelli tyres.
“I drove as hard as I could – I don’t come here to finish second,” he said.
“The car was nice this weekend and I was happy with my time. But the tyres are at least three years old and I’ve already done two Australian championships on them. If I’d had better tyres I would have had a crack at the record, for sure.”
Warwick Hutchinson finished 2.5 seconds behind in an OMS 28 and Ross Mackay came third, a further 1.5 seconds back, in a Macspec 24.
One of Australia’s premier historic motorsport festivals, the Historic Leyburn Sprints featured a packed program for its 29th instalment.
Among the attractions were appearances by former racing champions Dick Johnson Warwick Brown, Bruce Allison, Kevin Bartlett, Charlie O’Brien and Bap Romano.
Bartlett was re-acquainted with the 1964 Repco Brabham Climax in which he set the first 100mph (160km/h) lap of Mount Panorama circuit.
Touring car and open-wheel star Charlie O’Brien returned to the driving seat in Bruce Garland’s Ford Escort, finishing fourth in class.
Sprints President Tricia Chant estimated final attendance figures for the weekend could come close to matching last year’s record 18,000, which celebrated the 75th anniversary of the Leyburn Australian Grand Prix.
Renowned for its camaraderie among regular competitors, the weekend opened with a heart-warming presentation of a specially-decorated cake to the Sprints’ oldest driver, 85-year-old Justin McCarthy, alongside his 100-year-old Austin Seven Sports named Alfred.
McCarthy – who started racing at age 75 – and his tiny Austin are customarily the slowest combination on track, but this year the “honour” went to Sydney visitor Brian Chisholm and his 1924 Amilcar, who clocked a lap more than a minute slower than outright winner Dean Amos.
In other results, Warwick’s Matthew Clift emerged as the fastest Historic car and an impressive 25th outright, with a lap time of 53.01 seconds in his 54-year-old Mazda R100 Rotary.
Paul Connolly, from Casino, NSW, won the Shannons Show ‘n’ Shine People’s Choice Award for his 1985 Suzuki Mighty Boy, which he bought in Leyburn and restored after it went under water in the Northern Rivers floods.
Other notable attractions at this year’s event included the return of the 1949 grand prix trophy to Leyburn, the site of first Australian Grand Prix, after two decades; three original cars from the 1949 race; a display of exotic racing cars; and a bumper crop of classic and performance cars in Shannons Show ‘n’ Shine.
2025 Historic Leyburn Sprints Results
- Fastest Outright (Col Furness Memorial Trophy): Dean Amos (Gould GR55B – 40.163 sec)
- Fastest Historic (Hayden Betts Memorial Trophy): Matthew Clift (Mazda R100 – 53.012 sec)
- Junior Driver (Mike and Ann Collins Memorial Trophy): Daniel Kirby (Hyundai Excel)
- John Mellon Rookie of the Year: Lachlan Wyeth (Toyota 86)
- Volunteer Award (Alan Wickham Memorial Trophy): Steve Morris
- Spirit of the Event (John Butterfield Memorial Trophy): Keith Edwards
- Shannons Show ‘n’ Shine, People’s Choice: Paul Connolly (1985 Suzuki Mighty Boy)
- Vintage Vans, People’s Choice: Dee “Pinky Fontaine” Ward (1960 Sportline)
