MURRAY O’Keefe is filthy.

He grins broadly, a row of perfectly white teeth gleaming even brighter when surrounded by the inch of red dust caked onto his face, his hat, his shirt.

He’s just come off Deni’s sports arena after taking his spin in the Australian Circlework Championships, where dust in the eyes and grit in the teeth is what it’s all about — mostly.

“Well, no one buys a V8 just so it sits in a shed,” he says bluntly.

The circlework event is relatively new to Deni, being introduced in 2007 and O’Keefe, from the Upper Hunter Valley, is a first time entrant -—though there’s been many years of, er, “practice” out in the back paddock.

“I grew up on a farm and just destroyed everything with an engine,” he grinned.

O’Keefe finished fourth overall, losing out to this year’s champion Jason Stanley, all the way from Cairns.

He’d taken out the title in just his second year at Deni, in his souped-up ute “The Silver Harlot”.

“It’s just about having fun,” Stanley said.

“The crowd love that we get to go out there and make lots of noise.”

If you think it’s just hooning around, forget it — Stanley insists there’s a lot of technique involved.

“You’ve got to keep a pretty level head to control the car.”

Drivers have to complete a series of required elements including figure eights, large full circles and tight circles.

They’re judged on style, technique and the noise — the more the better.

So there’s a difference between this and chucking donuts in a car park?

“Not really,” O’Keefe admits.

“You just don’t lose your licence this way.”

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