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BRITISH HILL CLIMB CHAMPIONSHIP - REPORT ARCHIVE
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WILLIS BOWS OUT WITH FTD
Event 17 at Loton Park on 29/09/2013
Having relinquished his British hillclimb crown to Scott Moran at Doune, Trevor Willis ended his title defence in style by winning the last round of the season with FTD at Loton Park. He had to fight for it, for in winning the opening run-off the dynamic Alex Summers had beaten him by completing a three-strong run of top qualifications followed by run-off wins. But in a nailbiting Championship finale, an inspired Willis denied Summers a follow-up to his Doune FTD by just two hundredths of a second.
A brilliant day for the 22-year-old driver of the supercharged DJ Firehawk ended not only with a run-off win and second FTD, but also with fourth overall in the final Championship line-up, edging Roger Moran out of the top four for the first time since he’d taken the British title 16 years earlier. And with a final class win, repeating his late-season habit of qualifying with a class record and even quicker in the run-off, Summers also clinched the 2013 Hillclimb Leaders title ahead of Roger’s son Scott.
Having secured the 2013 British title a fortnight earlier, Scott was content with fourth and third places respectively, each time ahead of his father (who was also edged out by Summers in the afternoon) but outgunned by an on-form Wallace Menzies in his firebreathing Firestorm. Already assured of a solid third place on the table, the ebullient Scot ended the season by topping the 200-point barrier.
Jos Goodyear finished sixth in the morning, but despite spinnning out of qualifying in the afternoon hung on to eighth place on the Championship table despite his somewhat abbreviated 2013 campaign. Retiring with an oil leak just before the pre-lunch run-off, a delighted Deryk Young snapped up sixth place in the closing shoot-out, finishing his season with a coveted ‘number 10’ on the bio-fuelled Gould-Judd for next year at the expense of the non-qualifying Richard Spedding who, like Goodyear, had fallen foul of the notorious Museum Bend in in a last-ditch bid to make the afternoon cut.
In the concurrent Midland Hillclimb Championship, Rob Stevens just needed a class win to prevent series leader Mike Turpin from successfully defending his title. Things looked bad for Stevens when the supercharged Force sportsracer broke a driveshaft on the line in the morning, and even worse when Turpin thrust his similarly aspirated VX220 up inside Donald McCaskill’s morning class record in the fearsome, 700bhp Mitsubishi Evo. But frantic interim repairs to the shaft got Stevens to the line and a relatively cautious run, almost a second outside his own record, was enough for the class win and a fifth Midland title.
AVON TYRES/TTC GROUP MSA BRITISH HILLCLIMB CHAMPIONSHIP, LOTON PARK
FTD: Trevor Willis (3.2 OMS-Powertec 28) 44.05s
Championship run-off, round 33: 1 Alex Summers (1.3s DJ Firehawk-Suzuki) 44.07s; 2 Willis 44.37s; 3 Wallace Menzies (3.2 DJ Firestorm-Cosworth XD) 44.97s; 4 Scott Moran (3.5 Gould-NME GR61X) 45.18s; 5 Roger Moran (3.5 Gould-NME GR61X) 45.41s; 6 Jos Goodyear (1.6 GWR Raptor-Suzuki) 45.80s; 7 Tom New (4.0 Gould-Judd EV GR55) 45.98s; 8 Paul Haimes (1.3t Gould-Suzuki GR59) 46.06s; 9 Will Hall (3.5 Force-Nissan WH) 46.19s; 10 John Bradburn (3.5 Gould-Cosworth HB GR55) 47.04s; 11 Alastair Crawford (2.8 Gould-NME GR55C) 47.59s; Deryk Young (4.0 Gould-Judd EV GR51B) DNS.
Championship run-off, round 34: 1 Willis 44.05s; 2 Menzies 44.49s; 3 Scott Moran 44.77s; 4 Summers 44.91s; 5 Roger Moran 45.26s; 6 Young 45.71s; 7 Hall 45.89s; 8 Haimes 46.69s; 9 Bradburn 46.95s; 10 New 47.08s; 11 Dave Uren (1.6 Force-Suzuki PC) 47.20s; 12 Crawford 47.59s.
Final Championship positions: 1 Scott Moran 258pts; 2 Trevor Willis 246; 3 Wallace Menzies 204; 4 Alex Summers 177; 5 Roger Moran 170; 6 Will Hall 128; 7 John Bradburn 115; 8 Jos Goodyear 101; 9 Tom New 60; 10 Deryk Young 57; etc.
After another record-breaking day, Alex Summers took fourth place in the British Championship and the 2013 Hillclimb Leaders title (Jerry Sturman)
Despite early mechanical dramas, Rob Stevens secured a fifth Midland Championship title (Jerry Sturman)
MORAN TAKES TITLE, SUMMERS STARS
Event 16 at Doune on 15/09/2013
Two British Championship run-off wins and FTD by Alex Summers capped a dramatic weekend on Doune’s daunting Carse of Cambus hillclimb, which also saw Scott Moran seal a fourth British Championship title with three rounds in hand.
Defending champion Trevor Willis had his back against the wall, knowing that Scott merely needed fifth place in the opening run-off to conclude their season-long duel. Driving with the seemingly unhurried smoothness that has characterised his style all year, Scott did just enough to make sure of wrapping up the title before lunch and when the yellow Gould-NME led with three cars to run, the title was in the bag. Equally characteristically, Trevor still gave it everything in reply. In a storming ascent, with the OMS-Powertec’s wheels brushing the barriers and the car twitching on the wet track, his title defence ended in a blaze of glory with a time almost a second and a half quicker than his rival’s.
But the drama wasn’t over. Continuing his amazing run of late season form, top qualifier Alex Summers screamed the supercharged, bike-powered DJ Firehawk up to top even Willis’s time by threequarters of a second and take his first run-off win of the year with a time that would stick for FTD. Then in the second run-off, as conditions switched from sunshine to showers and back again, he did it again to complete a memorable Doune double.
As at Prescott a fortnight earlier, bike-powered cars were on the pace again with Summers and Jos Goodyear outqualifying the field each time. Goodyear’s Raptor finished fourth in the opening shoot-out, three hundredths behind Scott Moran, before chasing Willis home for third place in the afternoon. After taking eighth in the morning, Richard Spedding found his form later, qualifying third in his Force and going on to split the Morans – with Roger ahead of Scott for the second time this year – for fifth place.
Wallace Menzies had a torrid time on home soil. A grassy moment at the notorious East Brae left him out of the points before lunch and he failed to qualify the charismatic Firestorm for the second run-off.
As usual at this unforgiving venue, incidents abounded. After finishing seventh in the morning – a position grabbed by the OMS-Suzuki of delighted hillclimb returnee Pat Roche in the afternoon – Dave Uren made the afternoon run-off (but failed to score) in his hastily repaired Force after co-driver Nicola Menzies had clattered the barriers an hour or so earlier. Tom New survived a spin in the Esses during the opening run-off, miraculously without touching the sides in his big Gould-Judd, and recovered for ninth place in the afternoon. Sixth in the morning, mere hundredths clear of Uren, Paul Haimes was another to visit the outer reaches of the East Brae outfield. The Gould-Suzuki turbo found its way back on to the tarmac and finished the run, but the time was long gone.
AVON TYRES/TTC GROUP MSA BRITISH HILLCLIMB CHAMPIONSHIP, DOUNE
FTD: Alex Summers (1.3s DJ Firehawk-Suzuki) 40.78s
Championship run-off, round 31: 1 Summers 40.78s; 2 Trevor Willis (3.2 OMS-Powertec 28) 41.59s; 3 Scott Moran (3.5 Gould-NME GR61X) 42.91s; 4 Jos Goodyear (1.6 GWR Raptor-Suzuki) 42.94s; 5 Roger Moran (3.5 Gould-NME GR61X) 43.92s; 6 Paul Haimes (1.3t Gould-Suzuki GR59) 44.29s; 7 Dave Uren (1.6 Force-Suzuki PC) 44.38s; 8 Richard Spedding (1.6 Force-Suzuki PC) 44.72s; 9 Will Hall (3.5 Force-Nissan WH) 45.01s; 10 Alastair Crawford (2.8 Gould-NME GR55C) 45.52s; 11 Wallace Menzies (3.2 DJ Firestorm-Cosworth XD) 45.74s; Tom New (4.0 Gould-Judd EV GR55) DNF – spin.
Championship run-off, round 32: 1 Summers 42.30s; 2 Willis 43.54s; 3 Goodyear 43.92s; 4 Roger Moran 44.26s; 5 Spedding 45.38s; 6 Scott Moran 45.73s; 7 Pat Roche (1.6 OMS-Suzuki CF) 46.87s; 8 Hall 47.66s; 9 New 48.03s; 10 John Bradburn (3.5 Gould-Cosworth HB GR55) 48.52s; 11 Uren 49.64s; 12 Haimes 53.34s.
Championship positions after round 30: 1 Scott Moran 256pts; 2 Willis 249; 3 Menzies 187; 4 Roger Moran 163; 5 Alex Summers 160; 6 Will Hall 126; etc
Outgoing champion Trevor Willis (right) congratulates season-long rival Scott Moran on his 2013 title (Steve Wilkinson)
Alex Summers blasts the Firehawk through Doune's claustrophobic tunnel on his way to a double victory (Steve Wilkinson)
BIKEPOWER AT PRESCOTT
Event 15 at Prescott on 01/09/2013
The pendulum swung heavily in Scott Moran’s favour as the British Hillclimb Championship leader continued his season-long duel with Trevor Willis at Prescott. Willis qualified top for the opening run-off with a new class record, but with another seemingly effortless run, Moran went one better in the run-off itself to equal Willis’s hill record. Pressure on the defending champion increased after the flying Alex Summers, who had carved no less than two seconds off his class record in the screaming DJ Firehawk to qualify top, elbowed Willis down to third place with an even faster time, just a tenth away from the outright hill standard.
Motorcycle engined cars looked set to put another spanner in the works in the afternoon shoot-out as a new 1600cc record from Jos Goodyear, even faster than Summers’ new 2-litre mark – which in itself was quicker than Willis’s unlimited class record – qualified the Raptor top of the list ahead of the supercharged Firehawk. But a supreme effort from Willis snatched the win, to prolong his dwindling hopes of a 2013 title, in a time just five hundredths shy of the outright record. Moran had to be content with third place behind Summers. But with just four rounds remaining, at Doune and Loton, he holds the advantage over Willlis on dropped scores and Scott’s fourth British title looks imminent.
Those superb performances by Goodyear and Summers reaped further benefits. Goodyear was acclaimed the Midland Man of the meeting, while Summers’ class record annihilation not only shot him to the head of the Prescott Gold Cup standings to take the prestigious award for 2013, but left him top of the Hillclimb Leaders table with two rounds remaining.
Class records fell across the board. Tony Adams set the ball rolling by hacking almost three seconds off the 2-litre Roadgoing mark in his Aldon Elise. Roy Standley boosted his Gold Cup hopes (initially, at least!) with a new record in the bigger division in his Evo 5. Even Gold Cup rival Rob Stevens failed to match his improvement, despite lowering his own big sports libre mark in the ‘Purple’ Force. Andrew Henson lowered yet another of his Formula Ford records in the Van Diemen, Graham Wynn took his second 2-litre libre record in as many weekends aboard the Force LM and Adam Steel shaved two hundredths off his 1100 racing mark with the humble Martlet to demote former Leaders joint front-runner Simon Fidoe. As well as new class records from Goodyear, Summers and Willis, Sue Young chopped well over a second off her June Prescott Ladies record and just qualified the Gould-Judd for the opening run-off – at the expense of husband Deryk!
AVON TYRES/TTC GROUP BRITISH HILLCLIMB CHAMPIONSHIP, PRESCOTT
FTD: Scott Moran (3.5 Gould-NME GR61X) 36.24s.
Championship run-off, round 29: 1 Scott Moran 36.24s; 2 Alex Summers (1.3s DJ Firehawk-Suzuki) 36.33s; 3 Trevor Willis (3.2 OMS-Powertec 28) 36.75s; 4 Jos Goodyear (1.6 GWR Raptor-Suzuki) 36.76s; 5 Wallace Menzies (3.2 DJ Firestorm-Cosworth XD) 37.25s; 6 Roger Moran (3.5 Gould-NME GR61X) 37.37s; 7 Will Hall (3.5 Force-Nissan WH) 37.64s; 8 Tom New (4.0 Gould-Judd EV GR55) 37.68s; 9 Alastair Crawford (2.8 Gould-NME GR55C) 37.84s; 10 Paul Haimes (1.3t Gould-Suzuki GR59) 37.86s; 11 Susan Young (4.0 Gould-Judd EV GR51B) 39.66s; 12 Richard Spedding (1.6 Force-Suzuki PC) 38.03s.
Championship run-off, round 30: 1 Willis 36.29; 2 Summers 36.49s; 3 Scott Moran 36.52s; 4 Goodyear 36.97s; 5 New 37.39s; 6 Hall 37.48s; 7 Roger Moran 37.66s; 8 John Bradburn (3.5 Gould-Cosworth HB GR55) 37.77s; 9 Menzies 37.80s; 10 Crawford 37.85s; 11 Spedding 38.13s; 12 Haimes 38.26s.
British Championship positions after round 30: 1 Scott Moran 248pts; 2 Willis 237; 3 Menzies 187; 4 Roger Moran 152; 5 Alex Summers 140; 6 Will Hall 122; etc
Trevor Willis kept his slim championship hopes alive with a run-off win (John Hayward)
Jos Goodyear's new 1600cc mark is the fastest class record in the Prescott book (John Hayward)
MORAN’S GURSTON DOUBLE
Event 14 at Gurston Down on 25/08/2013
Scott Moran increased his British hillclimb championship lead over Trevor Willis to six points after a double run-off win at Gurston Down. A time just seven hundredths shy of a sub-26 secured FTD on the last run of the day. ‘I’d have liked a 25,’ said Scott, but I left the braking a fraction late for Karousel on that last run.’ Wallace Menzies fought hard to bring the Firestorm home in the runner-up spot each time, but Willis came under extreme pressure from the flying Alex Summers, who beat the OMS-Powertec driver to a podium spot by a mere hundredth in the opening run-off. In the second, having qualified the supercharged Firehawk with a new class record, an astonishing performance to carve off another threequarters of a second levelled with Willis for third place. ‘I don’t really know where that time came from,’ said Summers, ‘but I’ll settle for it!’
John Bradburn made the most of his 650 bhp on this power hill to bag fifth each time, pipping Alastair Crawford by 0.17s as the Gould-NME driver equalled a season’s best sixth place in the opening shoot-out, where a typically close-fought Gurston run-off saw less than half a second covering fifth to tenth. Four hundredths shy of Roger Moran, Tom New beat the fast-starting Will Hall by five hundredths to take eighth place, while Deryk Young grabbed the final point with his bio-fuelled Gould-Judd. Young wasn’t so lucky in the afternoon shoot-out, running the car down the Armco barrier before coming to a halt, happily with minimal damage, on the run up Burke’s Rise towards the finish.
With the duelling pair split by Crawford in the afternoon, New stretched his advantage over Hall to three tenths to move up a place for seventh, although Roger Moran again remained just out of reach. After bringing up the tail in the morning, in the second shoot-out Paul Haimes braked for Karousel in a shower of dry ice escaping from the GR59’s intercooler but scraped into the points ahead of Jos Goodyear, who had led his Gould in the earlier run-off.
Class run highlights included British and Leaders co-sponsor Graham Wynn's demolition, by over half a second, of Rob Stevens' 2-litre sports libre record in his Force-Suzuki, while the battle for the Hillclimb Leaders title intensified at Gurston. With all three drivers taking class wins (one of them, Summers, with a record), Simon Fidoe, Alex Summers and Scott Moran jointly lead the Championship with three rounds left to run.
Results here.
AVON TYRES/TTC GROUP MSA BRITISH HILLCLIMB CHAMPIONSHIP, GURSTON DOWN
FTD: Scott Moran (3.5 Gould-NME GR61X) 26.02s
Championship run-off, round 27: 1 Scott Moran 26.06s; 2 Wallace Menzies (3.2 DJ Firestorm-Cosworth XD) 26.63s; 3 Alex Summers (1.3s DJ Firehawk-Suzuki) 26.73s; 4 Trevor Willis (3.2 OMS-Powertec 28) 26.74s; 5 John Bradburn (3.5 Gould-Cosworth HB GR55) 27.00s; 6 Alastair Crawford (2.8 Gould-NME GR55C) 27.17s; 7 Roger Moran (3.5 Gould-NME GR61X) 27.26s; 8 Tom New (4.0 Gould-Judd EV GR55) 27.30s; 9 Will Hall (3.5 Force-Nissan WH) 27.35s; 10 Deryk Young (4.0 Gould-Judd EV GR51B) 27.45; 11 Jos Goodyear (1.6 GWR Raptor-Suzuki) 27.79s; 12 Paul Haimes (1.3t Gould-Suzuki GR59) 28.53s.
Championship run-off, round 28: 1 Scott Moran 26.02s; 2 Menzies 26.09s; 3= Summers and Willis 26.31s; 5 Bradburn 26.77s; 6 Roger Moran 26.97s; 7 New 27.18s; 8 Crawford 27.37s; 9 Hall 27.48s; 10 Haimes 27.57s; 11 Goodyear 28.01s; Young DNF.
British Championship positions after round 28: 1 Scott Moran 230pts; 2 Willis 224; 3 Menzies 179; 4 Roger Moran 143; 5 Alex Summers 122; 6 Will Hall 113; etc.
Scott Moran brought his total of wins this season to 16 with a double victory at Gurston (John Hayward)
For the second weekend running, Alex Summers lowered his own class record and went even quicker in the run-off (John Hayward)
SCINTILLATING SHELSLEY
Event 13 at Shelsley Walsh on 18/08/2013
In one of the closest fought events of this year’s British hillclimb series, Wallace Menzies and Scott Moran swapped run-off wins with Moran getting the final verdict. In the opening shootout, Menzies’ noisy and spectacular DJ Firestorm blasted to the top in a shower of sparks ahead of the three-times champion to secure the win, his fourth of the season, by a mere hundredth of a second.
In the second run-off Menzies and a hard charging Trevor Willis, despite his OMS’s power disadvantage, had set identical times to take the joint lead before the top qualifier’s final run. But in a consummate display that looked almost leisurely by comparison, Scott ended the day with FTD, taking almost half a second off the pace of the duelling pair in his supremely handling Gould-NME. The win, his fourteenth this year, restored his Championship lead by a single point from Willis and marked yet another milestone set in 2013 by the 37-year-old from Ludlow – the 200th British run-off win by the Gould marque.
Battles were tight throughout the field as drivers rose to the occasion in front of a huge and appreciative crowd basking in Teme Valley sunshine. Alex Summers broke his 2-litre record in the screaming, supercharged DJ Firehawk to qualify second for the opening shoot-out, going on to beat even championship leader Willis by a hundredth for a podium spot in the run-off itself. In the afternoon he was forced to concede fifth place by just three hundredths to Tom New, the Gould-Judd driver steadily making up for his late start to the season. With two six-point finishes at Shelsley he’s now just outside the top ten on the Championship table.
Deryk Young, always a force to be reckoned with at Shelsley, ran sixth in the morning. But in the afternoon he led the way until all but the battling trio at the sharp end had run. In the face of such high-speed action (a consistent 150mph over the finish in the case of Menzies) he was forced to settle for fourth place.
Following a suspension-bending brush with the bank in morning qualifying, John Bradburn finished a little down the field in his potent Gould-HB, swapping places with Jos Goodyear’s Raptor. Roger Moran was also somewhat subdued with a couple of ninth places, initially ahead of Alastair Crawford’s Gould-NME and later Will Hall’s V6 Force, which had missed the morning cut following a fuel pump relay glitch.
Paul Haimes had chased Summers home in the 2-litre class and made the cut each time, but was left out of the points when his GR59 succumbed to its old bugbear of gearshift problems. After a fine second in class behind Goodyear, Dave Uren lined up his 1600 Force in a run-off for the fifteenth time this year. He didn’t make the points, but still heads Haimes for 12th place on the series table.
AVON TYRES/TTC GROUP MSA BRITISH HILLCLIMB CHAMPIONSHIP, SHELSLEY WALSH
FTD: Scott Moran (3.5 Gould-NME GR61X) 23.31s
Championship run-off, round 25: 1 Wallace Menzies (3.2 DJ Firestorm-Cosworth XD) 23.48s; 2 Scott Moran 23.49s; 3 Alex Summers (1.3s DJ Firehawk-Suzuki) 23.94s; 4 Trevor Willis (3.2 OMS-Powertec 28) 23.95s; 5 Tom New (4.0 Gould-Judd EV GR55) 24.04s; 6 Deryk Young (4.0 Gould-Judd EV GR51B) 24.08s; 7 John Bradburn (3.5 Gould-Cosworth HB GR55) 24.61s; 8 Jos Goodyear (1.6 GWR Raptor-Suzuki) 24.62s; 9 Roger Moran (3.5 Gould-NME GR61X) 24.68s; 10 Alastair Crawford (2.8 Gould-NME GR55C) 24.96s; 11 Paul Haimes (1.3t Gould-Suzuki GR59) 25.12s; 12 Dave Uren (1.6 Force-Suzuki PC) 25.76s.
Championship run-off, round 26: 1 Scott Moran 23.31s; 2= Willis and Menzies 23.78s; 4 Young 23.92s; 5 New 24.09s; 6 Summers 24.12s; 7 Goodyear 24.35s; 8 Bradburn 24.53s; 9 Roger Moran 24.57s; 10 Will Hall (3.5 Force-Nissan WH) 24.97s; 11 Crawford 25.12s; 12 Haimes 45.30s.
British Championship positions after round 26: 1 Scott Moran 210pts; 2 Willis 209; 3 Menzies 161; 4 Roger Moran 134; 5 Hall 109; 6 Summers 106; etc.
Scott Moran regained his championship lead with Gould's 200th win (Jerry Sturman)
Wallace Menzies took his fourth win of the season in the spectacular Firestorm (Jerry Sturman)
SCOTT’S CENTENARY CRAIGANTLET
Event 12 at Craigantlet on 03/08/2013
As East Belfast’s iconic road course at Craigantlet, the second oldest hillclimb in the British Championship, celebrated its Centenary meeting, Scott Moran set the seal on a memorable event with a new hill record on the final run-off climb of the day. Just fifteen hundredths of a second was enough to consign Trevor Willis’s year-old record to the history books. Having lost his series lead to the OMS driver following his non-appearance at Wiscombe Park the previous weekend, Moran closed back to within two points of the new leader and even with ten rounds still to run, with thirteen wins in the bag he has to be seen as favourite for the 2013 title.
With four events and eight rounds run in the space of just seventeen days, a delighted Wallace Menzies bagged his third win during this hectic period, edging out Moran by nine hundredths with the best passage of the day through the hill’s tortuous opening section. A somewhat breathless Willis ran third, the Powertec V8 working overtime on the ultra-fast second half although a good 15mph down over the finish line. A demon effort by the current record-holder retrieved second place in the closing shoot-out as Roger Moran closed in to demote Menzies to fourth, but Scott’s final shot meant that Willis had held Craigantlet’s outright record for just one year.
A superb drive by hill newcomer Alex Summers bagged fourth place in the opening shoot-out and fifth later on, the DJ Firehawk’s supercharged Hayabusa howling through the Belfast byways and the car’s latest DJ/SM Designs aero mods really paying off through the hill’s fast upper reaches. It was enough to move him into sixth place on the Championship table in the absence of previous incumbent John Bradburn. Tom New equalled his season-best fifth place in the opening run-off, but was squeezed out later by Will Hall, who settled for a couple of mid-field places in his fast starting Force-Nissan. Quickest of all off the line was Championship co-sponsor Graham Wynn, who brought his Force-Hayabusa sports libre car into the points for the second time this year.
Irishman Pat Roche’s return to the fray was rewarded with two run-off placings, albeit non-scoring. Dave Uren was in the points each time with his Force-Hayabusa while regular classmate Richard Spedding was happy enough with a couple of eighth places and, for once, no mechanical or electronic issues with his version, but GR59 driver Paul Haimes’ debut at the Ulster hill was blunted by gearshift problems after salvaging just two points in the opening run-off.
Sadly, Jos Goodyear was in no position to get in amongst the points scorers as the Raptor broke second gear during practice and was sidelined for the day.
AVON TYRES/TTC GROUP MSA BRITISH HILLCLIMB CHAMPIONSHIP, CRAIGANTLET
FTD: Scott Moran (3.5 Gould-NME GR61X) 39.41s (outright hill record)
Championship run-off, round 23: 1 Wallace Menzies (3.2 DJ Firestorm-Cosworth XD) 39.69s; 2 Scott Moran 39.78s; 3 Trevor Willis (3.2 OMS-Powertec 28) 40.52s; 4 Alex Summers (1.3s DJ Firehawk-Suzuki) 41.38s; 5 Tom New (4.0 Gould-Judd EV GR55) 41.51s; 6 Roger Moran (3.5 Gould-NME GR61X) 41.71s; 7 Will Hall (3.5 Force-Nissan WH) 41.99s; 8 Richard Spedding (1.6 Force-Suzuki PC) 42.95s; 9 Paul Haimes (1.3t Gould-Suzuki GR59) 43.49s; 10 Dave Uren (1.6 Force-Suzuki PC) 43.94s; 11 Pat Roche (1.6 OMS-Suzuki) 44.49s; 12 Graham Wynn (1.3t Force-Hayabusa LM001) 44.71s.
Championship run-off, round 24: 1 Scott Moran 39.41s; 2 Willis 39.96s; 3 Roger Moran 40.97s; 4 Menzies 41.04s; 5 Summers 41.55s; 6 Hall 41.75s; 7 New 42.21s; 8 Spedding 42.82s; 9 Uren 43.80s; 10 Wynn 44.01s; 11 Roche 44.87s; 12 Haimes 48.17s.
British Championship positions after round 24: 1 Willis 193 pts; 2 Scott Moran 191; 3 Menzies 142; 4 Roger Moran 130; 5 Hall 108; 6 Summers 93; etc.
Scott Moran turns into Hadley on his way to a new Craigantlet hill record (Eddie Walder)
Alex Summers scored a fine fourth place on his Craigantlet debut (Eddie Walder)
MENZIES ON TOP IN DEVON
Event 11 at Wiscombe Park on 28/07/2013
With Scott and Roger Moran absent from the event, Trevor Willis took the Avon/TTC British Hillclimb Championship lead at Wiscombe Park, although not perhaps in such as a decisive manner as the hill record-holder would have hoped for. The odd shower during the weekend meant that the track was never really dry in the in the hill's long tree-lined section and an on-form Wallace Menzies beat Willis to the punch in the opening run-off by a mere nine hundredths as the OMS-Powertec momentarily ran wide at the tricky Martini hairpin, just yards from the finish line.
The time would stand as FTD and hard on the heels of his record-breaking win on Jersey, it marked Menzies’ second win in eleven days and moved the Firestorm-Cosworth driver into third overall on the Championship table ahead of Roger Moran. But in a dramatic afternoon qualifying session he failed to make the cut as a brief rain shower moved in. Having finished fifth in the morning shoot-out, Tom New also failed to qualify. Will Hall, whose ‘straight-on’ at Martini had left him out of the points in the morning, scraped in with eleventh place while Willis managed a lowly ninth. But with a level playing field for the run-off itself, the defending champion set a time that would prove unbeatable and his win gave the OMS 28 driver a five point Championship lead.
Following much work to repair the DJ Firehawk after his accident on Guernsey a week earlier, Alex Summers missed out on the opening run-off when a driveshaft broke in qualifying. He was back in the afternoon and on top form, chasing Willis home for second place. After fourth place in the opening run-off and qualifying on top spot for the second, a delighted Paul Haimes spearheaded the 2-car Gould GR59 onslaught with a fine third place in the afternoon. For the first time ever, all three drivers of this latest Gould hillclimb model made the cut each time, with both Simon Moyse and his father Brian in the points in the closing shoot-out.
Dave Uren made the second cut and increased his growing points tally with a strong sixth place in the Force-Suzuki. Mike Lee was in the points each time on his 2013 run-off debut. Wiscombe ace Ed Hollier brought his Pilbeam-Hayabusa home sixth in the morning, but a spin just after the Gate – without touching the sides! – left him out of the points later. After chasing the two leaders home before lunch, a big moment at Sawbench Hairpin saw Jos Goodyear slip to fifth in the afternoon. Simon Fidoe had levelled his tiny 1-litre Empire with Goodyear in morning qualifying and ended up eighth behind John Bradburn’s big Gould-Cosworth, but a tardy second qualifier not only led to his second successive class defeat in as many weekends by the flying Adam Steel, but ruled him out of the second shoot-out.
Full class results here.
AVON TYRES/TTC GROUP MSA BRITISH HILLCLIMB CHAMPIONSHIP, WISCOMBE PARK
FTD: Wallace Menzies (3.2 DJ Firestorm-Cosworth XD) 36.41s
Championship run-off, round 21: 1 Menzies 36.41s; 2 Trevor Willis (3.2 OMS-Powertec 28) 36.50s; 3 Jos Goodyear (1.6 GWR Raptor-Suzuki) 36.91s; 4 Paul Haimes (1.3t Gould-Suzuki GR59) 37.93s; 5 Tom New (4.0 Gould-Judd EV GR55) 38.38s; 6 Ed Hollier (1.6 Pilbeam-Suzuki MP62) 38.43s; 7 John Bradburn (3.5 Gould-Cosworth HB GR55) 38.59s; 8 Simon Fidoe (1.0 Empire-Suzuki 002) 38.74s; 9 Mike Lee (1.6 OMS-Suzuki 2000M) 39.43s; 10 Simon Moyse (1.3s Gould-Suzuki GR59) 39.71s; 11 Brian Moyse (1.3s Gould-Suzuki GR59) 43.82s; Will Hall (3.5 Force-Nissan WH) DNF.
Championship run-off, round 22: 1 Willis 37.07s; 2 Alex Summers (1.3s DJ Firehawk-Suzuki) 38.08s; 3 Haimes 38.52s; 4 Hall 38.96s; 5 Goodyear 39.31s; 6 Dave Uren (1.6 Force-Suzuki PC) 39.45s; 7 Bradburn 40.26s; 8 Lee 40.86s; Simon Moyse 42.06s; 10 Brian Moyse 45.67s; Paul Alexander (2.0 Pilbeam-Vauxhall MP62.01) DNS; Tony Hunt (1.3s Force-Hayabusa PC) DNS.
British Championship positions after round 22: 1 Willis 176 pts; 2 Scott Moran 171; 3 Menzies 125; 4 Roger Moran 117; 5 Hall 99; 6 Bradburn 89; etc.
Wallace Menzies set the outright pace at Wiscombe Park (Eddie Walder)
Paul Haimes spearheaded a 'full house' for the latest Gould hillclimb model (Eddie Walder)
HILL RECORDS TUMBLE ON THE ISLANDS
Event 9 at Bouley Bay on 18/07/2013
Event 10 at Le Val des Terres on 20/07/2013
Scott Moran scored the most points on this year’s British hillclimb cross-channel trip. But he only took one run-off victory in a breathtaking two days of competition which saw hill records fall on both Jersey and Guernsey.
On his first timed run of the day at Bouley Bay, Jos Goodyear threw down the gauntlet by breaking his 2012 hill record. He failed to repeat the feat in the opening run-off when he braked too late into Top Bend and ran wide, ending up sixth. A delighted Wallace Menzies took the win and with it the outright hill record, the first of his career. Just behind him, Trevor Willis also gained a bonus point by running inside the old record, while Championship leader Scott Moran ran third.
Menzies failed to qualify the Firestorm for the second shoot-out, running wide at Café and losing time which he could not make up. Willis took the win, again under the old record for a further bonus, the third of the day. This denied Scott Moran the win but he kept his points tally ticking over with second place. Goodyear ran third, but would have more in store for Guernsey. Youngest driver of the current top ten, Alex Summers, made up for an earlier mistake with a strong fourth place in the supercharged Firehawk.
Championship sponsor Graham Wynn had a good first ever visit to Bouley, taking the Sports Libre record in his Force LM.
At the Val des Terres on Saturday, the initial pace was good on a recently repatched track that had promised little on first inspection. Class records tumbled early on, but not in the three classes that usually provide the majority of run-off contenders. As early as the first class run of the day, Mark King in the Bodyline Rocksand Special took the non-transaxle record away from Scott Rayson.
The first run-off field included three local drivers, championship registered in the hope of an upset. So it proved, with local airport fireman Darren Warwick piloting the ex-Paul Haimes Hillclimb Leaders winning Dallara into third fastest qualification slot as the quickest ever Guernsey driver on the Terres – and this includes local hero Andy Priaulx!
With high hopes of more records in the opening run-off, Willis and Menzies set disappointing times before second fastest qualifier Goodyear took to the hill. The Raptor’s engine sounded rough and although the car cleared its throat further up, his time would only achieve sixth place. Calm as ever, Scott Moran shot from the start with a flawless run to take the hill record away from 2012 holder Goodyear. Warwick set his best ever time to finish a marvellous second. ‘Dangerous Brother’ Paul Le Messurier had pulled off heroics to qualify with a new class record, but despite a magnificent effort in the run-off he failed to score in the Lemtech, recently been rebuilt after his brother Ian’s high-speed trip into the grounds of Terres House in May.
Drama came in the afternoon when Alex Summers, immediately after setting third fastest qualifying time, crashed after the finish. He escaped unhurt but there will be much work needed to fix the car for Wiscombe Park.
As the run-off itself progressed, Moran set a fine benchmark and nobody suspected that top qualifier Goodyear would pull his best ever performance out of the bag. Sensationally, he grabbed the record back with a 27.17 on the last run of the day. What price a 26 when he returns in 2014?
AVON TYRES/TTC GROUP MSA BRITISH HILLCLIMB CHAMPIONSHIP, BOULEY BAY
FTD: Wallace Menzies (3.2 DJ Firestorm-Cosworth XD) 37.60s (outright hill record)
Championship run-off, round 17: 1 Menzies 37.60s; 2 Trevor Willis (3.2 OMS-Powertec 28) 37.64s; 3 Scott Moran (3.5 Gould-NME GR61) 38.15s; 4 Roger Moran (3.5 Gould-NME GR61X) 38.78s; 5 John Bradburn (3.5 Gould-Cosworth HB GR55) 38.84s; 6 Jos Goodyear (1.6 GWR Raptor-Suzuki) 38.86s; 7 Will Hall (3.5 Force-Nissan WH) 39.15s; 8 Alex Summers (1.3s DJ Firehawk-Suzuki) 39.50s; 9 Tom New (4.0 Gould-Judd EV GR55) 39.77s; 10 Richard Spedding (1.6 Force-Suzuki PC) 40.02s; 11 Darren Warwick (2.0 Dallara-Vauxhall F301) 40.13s; 12 Dave Uren (1.6 Force-Suzuki PC) 40.18s.
Championship run-off, round 18: 1 Willis 37.62s; 2 Scott Moran 38.10s; 3 Goodyear 38.11s; 4 Summers 38.69s; 5 Roger Moran 39.03s; 6 Hall 39.47s; 7 Bradburn 39.50s; 8 New 39.66s; 9 Uren 39.69s; 10 Spedding 39.98s; 11 Steve Day (1.6 GWR Raptor-Suzuki) 40.98s; Warwick DNF.
AVON TYRES/TTC GROUP MSA BRITISH HILLCLIMB CHAMPIONSHIP, LE VAL DES TERRES
FTD: Goodyear 27.17s (outright hill record)
Championship run-off, round 19: 1 Scott Moran 27.19s I; 2 Warwick 27.90s; 3 Roger Moran 28.26s; 4 Summers 28.32s; 5 Willis 28.61s; 6 Goodyear 28.69s; 7 Menzies 28.75s; 8 Hall 28.94s; 9 Nick Saunders (1.6 Reynick-Suzuki) 28.98s; 10 Bradburn 28.99s; 11 New 29.48s; 12 Paul Le Messurier (1.4 Lemtech-Suzuki DB03) 31.98s.
Championship run-off, round 20: 1 Goodyear 27.17s; 2 Scott Moran 27.62s; 3 Willis 27.85s; 4 Warwick 27.95s; 5 Menzies 28.15s; 6 Bradburn 28.28s; 7 Hall 28.41s; 8 Roger Moran 28.69s; 9 Saunders 28.83s; 10 New 29.12s; 11 Spedding 29.24s; Summers DNS.
British Championship positions after round 20: 1 Scott Moran 171pts; 2 Willis 157; 3 R Moran 117; 4 Menzies 115; 5 Hall 92; 6 Bradburn 81; etc.
Wallace Menzies set his first ever hill record in the Firestorm to win Bouley Bay's opening run-off (Eddie Walder)
Jos Goodyear leaves the start at Val des Terres on his way to reclaiming his 2012 hill record from Scott Moran (Andy Le Poidevin)
RECORD DAY AT HAREWOOD
Event 8 at Harewood on 07/07/2013
A magnificent day’s hillclimbing at a sun-baked Harewood saw class records tumble and the outright hill record reset twice, while Scott Moran finally reached – and surpassed – the milestone 105 wins to make him the most successful driver in the 66-year history of the British Championship.
He did it in style and under tremendous pressure as only moments before, his chief championship rival Trevor Willis had lopped six hundredths off Martin Groves’ 2010 hill standard. Last to go in the opening run-off, Moran finished the job by shaving off a further five hundredths to finally reset the hill record and exceed Groves’ win total of 104.
‘It really was something special to achieve that record total here,’ said Scott, ‘as Harewood was where I took my first win back in 2003.’
That superb opening run-off also saw the return of Jos Goodyear in the rebuilt GWR Raptor and with a vengeance, as after splitting Moran and Willis at the head of the qualifying table, he brought the diminutive bike-powered machine home in third place for third FTD, edging out Wallace Menzies’ fire-breathing DJ Firestorm by a mere hundredth.
Waiting in the wings was Scott’s father Roger, who backed his son up with fifth place, albeit a quarter of a second behind, in the opening run-off. But he celebrated with a family one-two in the second stanza as Scott, now on a roll, made it 106 wins. This marked the 121st win for their Gould GR61X, the most successful chassis by far in Championship history. After levelling with Moran Jr at the head of qualifying, Goodyear failed to trouble the scorers after a spin at Farmhouse, leaving Willis and Menzies to follow the leaders home. Wallace had salvaged two fourth places at the end of a weekend that had started badly. A fuel pump failure meant that most of Saturday’s practice was lost due to a trip to Birmingham for replacement units.
Chased by Deryk Young (whose wife Sue had missed out on a third consecutive Ladies hill record by eight hundredths), Harewood ace Richard Spedding ran midfield each time in his Force-Suzuki. Dave Uren was close behind in his similar car, equalling his best ever fifth place finish in the second shoot-out. Paul Haimes recovered from a spin on the first run-off to bring the GR59 home in the points after lunch but the unfortunate Will Hall, after a disappointing ninth place early on, was disqualified from the afternoon line-up after running too wide over the finish on his second qualifier, which let the ring-rusty Tom New’s Gould-Judd in to open his 2013 British points account.
At the tail end of the runners, but nonetheless delighted with their efforts, Alastair Crawford twice brought his Gould-NME home in the points having never previously qualified at Harewood, while after resetting the 1100cc class record with his tiny 1-litre Empire Suzuki, Simon Fidoe also made the cut each time.
AVON TYRES/TTC GROUP MSA BRITISH HILLCLIMB CHAMPIONSHIP, HAREWOOD
FTD: Scott Moran (3.5 Gould-NME GR61X) 49.02s (new hill record)
Championship run-off, round 15: 1 Scott Moran 49.02s; 2 Trevor Willis (3.2 OMS-Powertec 28) 49.07s; 3 Jos Goodyear (1.6 GWR Raptor-Suzuki) 49.33s; 4 Wallace Menzies (3.2 DJ Firestorm-Cosworth XD) 49.34s; 5 Roger Moran (3.5 Gould-NME GR61X) 49.76s; 6 Richard Spedding (1.6 Force-Suzuki PC) 50.76s; 7 Deryk Young (4.0 Gould-Judd EV GR51B) 50.78s; 8 Dave Uren (1.6 Force-Suzuki PC) 50.92s; 9 Will Hall (3.5 Force-Nissan WH) 51.72s; 10 Alastair Crawford (2.8 Gould-NME GR55C) 51.83s; 11 Simon Fidoe (1.0 Empire-Suzuki 002) 53.19s; Paul Haimes (1.3t Gould-Suzuki GR59) DNF (spin).
Championship run-off, round 16: 1 Scott Moran 49.22s; 2 Roger Moran 49.86s; 3 Willis 49.91s; 4 Menzies 50.30s; 5 Spedding 51.04s; 6 Young 51.13s; 7 Uren 51.51s; 8 Tom New (4.0 Gould-Judd EV GR55) 52.04s; 9 Haimes 52.44s; 10 Crawford 52.78s; 11 Fidoe 53.20s; Goodyear DNF (spin).
British Championship positions after round 16: 1 Scott Moran 134pts; 2 Willis 122; 3 Menzies 94; 4 Roger Moran 93; 5 Hall 76; 6 John Bradburn 65; etc.
Full class results here.
Scott (left) and Roger Moran celebrate Scott's milestone victory (Eddie Walder)
Trevor Willis set the first of the day's new hill records (Julian Dyer)
WILLIS AT THE DOUBLE
Event 7 at Doune on 23/06/2013
With two controlled and near perfect runs, Trevor Willis took back-to-back British hillclimb run-off victories in style on Doune’s daunting Carse of Cambus hill. His two wins closed the gap on championship leader Scott Moran, whose normally ultra-reliable Gould-NME was sidelined with a broken clutch after finishing four tenths behind Willis in the opening run-off. Moran will now have to wait until Harewood to attempt to net what will be a milestone 105th run-off victory.
Other key players hit trouble as Wallace Menzies retired from the opening run-off with an ECU glitch, Paul Haimes hit gearbox problems and the Eynon Price/Richard Spedding Force duo dropped out before Sunday’s first timed runs with a broken gearchange mechanism.
With a good recovery for second place in the closing run-off, Menzies broke clear of a tie for third place on the Championship table with Roger Moran. But the real star of the day was Alex Summers, who not only finished a superb third in both run-offs but also reset the 2-litre record during the class runs. George Coghill Jr qualified his 1-litre turbocharged Force-Suzuki for both run-offs and in the opener, scored his first ever championship points, but he failed to start in the second. Will Hall and John Bradburn both put in solid runs for good points in both rounds, as did Dave Uren and Simon Fidoe.
The Scots were on record-breaking form and Les Mutch led the way in his Dax V6, twice lowering his own class record during the class runs and capping the day with a point in the second run-off. The record in the Roadgoing class took a real hammering with John Morrison Jr and Sr taking turns to lower the record on every run. Sr finally got the nod in their shared MNR Vortex, having carved around 3.5sec off Donald Ross’s three-years-old record.
FTD: Trevor Willis (3.2 OMS-Powertec 28) 36.16s
Championship run-off, round 13: 1 Willis 36.54s; 2 Scott Moran (3.5 Gould-NME GR61X) 36.96s; 3 Alex Summers (1.3s DJ Firehawk-Suzuki) 38.35s; 4 Roger Moran (3.5 Gould-NME GR61X) 38.81s; 5 Will Hall (3.5 Force-Nissan WH) 39.47s; 6 John Bradburn (3.5 Gould-Cosworth HB GR55) 40.22s; 7 George Coghill Jr (1.0t Force-Suzuki PT) 40.80s; 8 David Uren (1.6 Force-Suzuki PC) 41.07s; 9 Simon Fidoe (1.0 Empire-Suzuki 002) 41.83s; 10 Nicola Menzies (1.6 Force-Suzuki PC) 42.35s; 11 Steve Marr (1.0 PCD Saxon-Suzuki) 42.45s; Wallace Menzies (3.2 DJ Firestorm-Cosworth XD) DNF
Championship run-off, round 14: 1 Willis 36.16s; Menzies 37.26s; 3 Summers 37.66s; 4 Hall 38.53s; 5 Bradburn 39.30s; 6 Fidoe 40.22s; 7 Uren 41.55s; 8 Marr 41.82s; 9 John MacKenzie (1.6 Radical Clubsport) 42.80s; 10 Les Mutch (2.6 Dax Rush-Rover KV6) 44.41s; Nicola Menzies (1.6 Force-Suzuki PC) DNF; Coghill Jr DNS
British Championship positions after round 14: 1 Scott Moran 113pts; 2 Willis 104; 3 Menzies 80; 4 Roger Moran 78; 5 Hall 74; 6 Bradburn 65; etc.
Trevor Willis closed to within nine points of the Championship leader with a double win at Doune (Steve Wilkinson)
Alex Summers netted two podium run-off placings and a class record (Steve Wilkinson)
HONOURS EVEN
Event 6 at Loton Park on 09/06/2013
With two more wins, this time at
Having seen his wife Sue reset her ladies record earlier in the day, Deryk Young stormed their Judd powered ex.Wight Jr GR51 chassis to third place in the opening run-off, his best result for four years. He slipped to fifth in the afternoon as Wallace Menzies and Roger Moran, split by two hundredths, elbowed past to level in third place on the Championship table, but the most experienced driver in the line-up – with by far the oldest chassis – was delighted with his family’s day’s work.
A cannonade echoed around the
Having spent most of the weekend consulting his laptop, Paul Haimes finally got his GR59 working to his liking and grabbed ninth place in the morning ahead of Alastair Crawford’s Gould-NME. A superb fourth place qualifier for the final shoot-out promised much but after a tardy launch, Haimes’ tried too hard to compensate and the new Gould turbocar spun harmlessly to a halt at Triangle. After finishing out of the points in the morning, the Richard Spedding/Eynon Price duo just got their Force into the points in the afternoon, with advantage this time to Price.
But with nine wins already in the bag this year, it's quite on the cards that the one which would make Scott Moran the most successful British hillclimber of all time could come at Doune, in Scotland, in a fortnight.
AVON TYRES/TTC GROUP MSA BRITISH HILLCLIMB CHAMPIONSHIP,
FTD: Scott Moran (3.5 Gould-NME GR61X) 43.99s
Championship run-off, round 11: 1 Scott Moran 44.41s; 2 Trevor Willis (3.2 OMS-Powertec 28) 44.61s; 3 Deryk Young (4.0 Gould-Judd EV GR51B) 44.96s; 4 Alex Summers (1.3s DJ Firehawk-Suzuki) 45.32s; 5 Wallace Menzies (3.2 DJ Firestorm-Cosworth XD) 45.77s; 6 John Bradburn (3.5 Gould-Cosworth HB GR55) 45.78s; 7 Will Hall (3.5 Force-Nissan WH) 46.07s; 8 Roger Moran (3.5 Gould-NME GR61X) 46.08s; 9 Paul Haimes (1.3t Gould-Suzuki GR59) 47.14s; 10 Alastair Crawford (2.8 Gould-NME GR55C) 47.51s; 11 Richard Spedding (1.6 Force-Suzuki PC) 47.85s; 12 Eynon Price (1.6 Force-Suzuki PT) 47.97s.
Championship run-off, round 12: 1 Scott Moran 43.99s; 2 Willis 44.51s; 3 Menzies 45.17s; 4 Roger Moran 45.19s; 5 Young 45.24s; 6 Summers 45.38s; 7 Bradburn 45.84s; 8 Hall 46.37s; 9 Price 46.68s; 10 Spedding 47.13s; 11 Crawford 47.48s; Haimes DNF (spin).
British Championship positions after round 12: 1 Scott Moran 104pts; 2 Willis 84; 3= Roger Moran and Menzies 71; 5 Hall 61; Bradburn 54; etc.
Full results here.
Scott Moran now lies equal first on the all-time round winners' table (Jerry Sturman)
Sue Young reset her ladies' record and husband Deryk secured his best result for four years (Jerry Sturman)
TWO MORE FOR MORAN
Event 5 at Shelsley Walsh on 02/06/2013
After another seemingly effortless double victory, this time at Shelsley Walsh, Scott Moran notched up his seventh British hillclimb run-off win of the season with FTD on the last run of the day. But his healthy series lead is not now over his father Roger, but Trevor Willis.
Faster than Moran to the Esses split and through the testing left/right complex, the defending champion’s OMS-Powertec inevitably lost out on the power blast to the finish, but his earlier commitment left him runner-up each time as he moved up the Championship table and back into contention. A tardy opening run-off shot for seventh place by Moran Sr had left the door ajar, and when Wallace Menzies failed to qualify the howling DJ Firestorm for the opening shoot-out due to a launch control glitch, it was left wide open for Willis to take advantage. Menzies made up for it in the afternoon, the methanol-fuelled monster storming the finish beam at a record 153mph, but even this left him only third behind the flying OMS.
Third in the opening run-off with a time inside his 2-litre record, Alex Summers was flying in the supercharged Firehawk. But after contact with the Crossing bank during second qualifying the car skated to a halt at the Kink in a shower of carbonfibre and would take no further part. Will Hall and John Bradburn enjoyed a close duel in both run-offs, Hall’s V6 Force getting the nod each time over the ex.F1 engined Gould. Alastair Crawford had another good weekend with the smaller engined Gould-NME, repeating his Gurston sixth and eighth places. After missing out in the morning with a chain breakage, the Spedding/Price duo led the 1600cc Force onslaught in the afternoon with Richard Spedding setting the pace for seventh, Dave Uren having bagged a season-best three points before lunch, when James Blackmore also got in on the act with his OMS 25.
Split by a hundredth in qualifying, the Gould GR59s of Paul Haimes and Simon Moyse – split by two hundredths this time! – took the final points in the morning. A hefty nudge with the Esses barrier sidelined Moyse during afternoon qualifying, leaving Haimes to qualify eighth with his best shot of the day, although gearchange woes slowed his run-off pace.
Jos Goodyear’s GWR Raptor was back in action, but got no further than Kennel on Saturday’s opening practice run. Goodyear escaped unscathed from a fairly comprehensive accident, but with severe damage to the tub the prognosis was not good for the car. It was left to Steve Day to uphold the marque’s honour, which he did with two run-off appearances and a point after lunch.
Highlight of the class runs came as Rob Stevens continued his record-breaking 2013 form in his self-developed, supercharged Force-Hayabusa. He now holds both of Shelsley’s sports libre records, having finally dispatched Nic Mann’s unlimited sports libre mark which he’d unofficially eclipsed in his smaller engined Force two years previously.
FTD: Scott Moran (3.5 Gould-NME GR61X) 23.40s
Championship run-off, round 9: 1 Scott Moran 23.55s; 2 Trevor Willis (3.2 OMS-Powertec 28) 23.79s; 3 Alex Summers (1.3s DJ Firehawk-Suzuki) 24.27s; 4 Will Hall (3.5 Force-Nissan WH) 24.34s; 5 John Bradburn (3.5 Gould-Cosworth HB GR55) 24.44s; 6 Alastair Crawford (2.8 Gould-NME GR55C) 24.72s; 7 Roger Moran (3.5 Gould-NME GR61X) 24.74s; 8 Dave Uren (1.6 Force-Suzuki PC) 25.53s; 9 Paul Haimes (1.3t Gould-Suzuki GR59) 25.58s; 10 Simon Moyse (1.3s Gould-Suzuki GR59) 25.60s; 11 Steve Day (1.6 GWR Raptor-Suzuki) 25.65s; 12 James Blackmore (1.6 OMS-Suzuki 25) 27.93s.
Championship run-off, round 10: 1 Scott Moran 23.40s; 2 Willis 23.59s; 3 Menzies 23.79s; 4 Roger Moran 24.21s; 5 Hall 24.26s; 6 Bradburn 24.42s; 7 Richard Spedding (1.6 Force-Suzuki PC) 25.20s; 8 Crawford 25.26s; 9 Eynon Price (1.6 Force-Suzuki PT) 25.32s; 10 Day 25.52s; 11 Uren 25.69s; 12 Haimes 25.81s.
British Championship positions after round 10: 1 Scott Moran 84pts; 2 Willis 66; 3 Roger Moran 61; 4 Menzies 57; 5 Hall 54; 6 Bradburn 45; etc.
Full results here.
Total commitment moved Trevor Willis up to second place on the Championship table (Jerry Sturman)
Rob Stevens - sports libre king of Shelsley! (Jerry Sturman)
100-UP!
Event 4 at Gurston Down on 26/05/2013
Scott Moran reached another milestone in his hillclimb career at Gurston Down on May Bank Holiday weekend. Having previously clinched two of his three British titles at the fast Wiltshire hill, back-to-back victories at the May Bank Holiday weekend secured the 37-year-old’s hundredth British Championship run-off win. With 104 wins, only his former rival Martin Groves has scored more, but on current form it is surely only a matter of weeks before Moran overtakes that total to become the most successful British hillclimb driver of all time.
Despite Scott’s father Roger being uncharacteristically off the pace, the 1997 champion still holds second place in this year’s series, albeit fourteen points adrift, but just one point behind him is the man that pushed his son hard all weekend at Gurston, Wallace Menzies, in the fire-breathing, methanol fuelled DJ Firestorm-Cosworth. Trevor Willis and his OMS-Powertec were at an inevitable disadvantage on Gurston’s power slopes, but the defending champion’s customary total commitment kept him in the frame with third place each time, which kept him within a point of Menzies on the championship table. Having just scraped into the second run-off after a lurid agricultural moment at Karousel in qualifying, Will Hall ran seventh in the Force-Nissan V6, but his earlier fourth place kept him firmly in fourth spot on the table ahead of John Bradburn, who finished fifth and fourth in the burly Gould-Cosworth.
With David and Sean Gould in attendance, Paul Haimes was flying in his first ‘proper’ outing in the new Gould GR59 turbocar. Encouraging eighth and sixth places in the new car kept him in touch with the V8s. Southwestern hillclimb ace Ed Hollier made the cut each time in his Pilbeam-Hayabusa, and a tie for ninth place with Dave Uren’s Force in the closing run-off earned the delighted Honiton man his first ever British Championship points. Equally delighted was Alastair Crawford who, after early season problems with his smaller engined Gould-NME, finally got the car to run and equalled a career best sixth place in the opening shoot-out.
FTD: Scott Moran (3.5 Gould-NME GR61X) 25.97s
Championship run-off, round 7: 1 Scott Moran 25.97s; 2 Wallace Menzies (3.2 DJ Firestorm-Cosworth XD) 26.52s; 3 Trevor Willis (3.2 OMS-Powertec 28) 26.53s; 4 Will Hall (3.5 Force-Nissan WH) 27.21s; 5 John Bradburn (3.5 Gould-Cosworth HB GR55) 27.33s; 6 Alastair Crawford (2.8 Gould-NME GR55C) 27.40s; 7 Roger Moran (3.5 Gould-NME GR61X) 27.56s; 8 Paul Haimes (1.3t Gould-Suzuki GR59) 28.21s; 9 Dave Uren (1.6 Force-Suzuki PC) 28.65s; 10 Eynon Price (1.6 Force-Suzuki PT) 28.98s; 11 Ed Hollier (1.6 Pilbeam-Suzuki MP62) 30.04s; 12 Alex Summers (1.3s DJ Firehawk-Suzuki) DNS.
Championship run-off, round 8: 1 Scott Moran 26.16s; 2 Menzies 26.41s; 3 Willis 26.97s; 4 Bradburn 27.00s; 5 Roger Moran 27.70s; 6 Haimes 27.73s; 7 Hall 27.75s; 8 Crawford 27.89s; 9= Hollier 28.54s; 9= Uren 28.54s; 11Richard Spedding (1.6 Force-Suzuki PC) 28.57s; 12 Price 28.65s.
British Championship positions after round 8: 1 Scott Moran 64pts; 2 Roger Moran 50; 3 Menzies 49; 4 Willis 48; 5 Hall 41; 6 Bradburn 34; etc.
Full results here.
Scott Moran reached his century at Gurston (John Hayward)
Paul Haimes enjoyed a successful day in his new Gould GR59 (John Hayward)
FAMILY BENEFIT AT HAREWOOD
Event 3 at Harewood on 12/05/2013
Scott and Roger Moran took a win apiece and led the Championship after the British Hillclimb circus had trailed over the
The slightly damp opening run-off saw Moran Sr in charge and almost a second clear of Barbon winner Trevor Willis, who led a battling six-car group covered by not much more than half a second. Coming home a tenth adrift of his rival, Scott Moran’s championship lead narrowed to two points. But he stretched it considerably after taking the win, his third of the season, in the afternoon run-off after Willis failed to score. Making up time throughout the run, the hard charging OMS driver looked set for victory but got a wheel on the grass coming into Orchard and spun into the gravel. The mistake cost him a championship place as with a third place finish, Roger Moran took over Willis’s second spot on the table.
As at Barbon, Wallace Menzies was flying in the Firestorm and another second place finish in the afternoon meant that he closed to within a point of Willis on the Championship table, leapfrogging Will Hall. The Midlander shadowed the leading trio before lunch, but an afternoon charge by Derek Young in the burly 4-litre Gould-Judd eased him down to fifth both on the road and on the series table by two hundredths.
Richard Spedding and Eynon Price were tied together in their shared Force in the morning, reveling in the car’s new aero package and traction control and pegging Young back to eighth, but in the better afternoon conditions they came under fire from Alex Summers’ supercharged Firehawk, which had missed out on morning qualifying with a recurrence of the previous day’s electronic glitch. Dave Uren was in the points each time with his Force after delighted co-driver Nicola Menzies had joined the elite 12 for the morning run-off.
The weekend was also notable for the debut of Paul Haimes’ turbocharged Gould-Suzuki GR59, although a shortage of wets had left him with just one acclimatization run at Barbon and electrical problems stemmed the car’s progress at Harewood.
FTD: Scott Moran (3.5 Gould-NME GR61X) 50.04s
Championship run-off, round 5: 1 Roger Moran (3.5 Gould-NME GR61X) 51.28s; 2 Trevor Willis (3.2 OMS-Powertec 28) 52.14s; 3 Scott Moran (3.5 Gould-NME GR61X) 52.24s; 4 Will Hall (3.5 Force-Nissan WH) 52.40s; 5 Wallace Menzies (3.2 DJ Firestorm-Cosworth XD) 52.66s; 6 Richard Spedding (1.6 Force-Suzuki PC) 52.76s; 7 Eynon Price (1.6 Force-Suzuki PT) 52.80s; 8 Deryk Young (4.0 Gould-Judd EV GR51B) 54.16s; 9 John Bradburn (3.5 Gould-Cosworth HB GR55) 54.76; 10 Dave Uren (1.6 Force-Suzuki PC) 57.45s; 11 Mike Manning (2.0t Ford Puma 4WD) 58.64s; 12 Nicola Menzies (1.6 Force-Suzuki PC) 59.87s.
Championship run-off, round 6: 1 Scott Moran 50.04s; 2 Menzies 50.88s; 3 Roger Moran 50.96s; 4 Young 51.52s; 5 Hall 51.54s; 6 Bradburn 51.71s; 7 Alex Summers (1.3s DJ Firehawk-Suzuki) 52.03s; 8 Price 53.07s; 9 Uren 53.55s; 10 Spedding 53.56s; 11 Lee Griffiths (1.6 OMS-Hayabusa 25) 54.56s; 11 Willis) DNF.
British Championship positions after round 6: 1 Scott Moran 44pts; 2 Roger Moran 40; 3 Willis 32; 4 Menzies 31; 5 Hall 30; 6 Bradburn 21; etc.
Full results here.
Scott Moran slides over the Harewood finish line for FTD (Julian Dyer)
Wallace Menzies grabs his second runner-up spot of the weekend (Julian Dyer)
WILLIS STORMS TO BARBON WIN
Event 2 at Barbon Manor on 11/05/2013
Trevor Willis scored the first British Championship win for his new OMS 28 chassis at a Barbon Manor event confined to just one run-off. Rain,
Despite a horsepower deficit to the ever-developing range of bigger V8s, Willis made the most of his sole opportunity on an almost dry track, charging his OMS to the top of the fast Cumbrian slopes threequarters of a second clear of Wallace Menzies’, now back in full cry in his fire-breathing DJ Firestorm. Another strong performance on this power hill by John Bradburn in his F1 powered Gould-Cosworth closed to within half a second of the Scot. Even with two wheels on the grass exiting the still slippery Lafone Hairpin, Will Hall grabbed fourth place on the road and on the Championship table in the growling Force-Nissan V6.
Despite looking smooth and quick in their Gould V8, Scott and Roger Moran could only manage fifth and sixth. ‘I don’t know where the time went,’ said Scott. ‘It felt fine – maybe progress at the hairpin wasn’t as good as it could have been.’ The family duo held off the battling Force pairing of Richard Spedding and Eynon Price while Mike Manning, no doubt disappointed that track had dried, grabbed a couple of points for ninth in the 4WD rallycross Puma.
There were no other scorers as Graham Wynn spun the Force sports libre coming into the fast
FTD: Trevor Willis (3.2 OMS-Powertec 28) 21.69s
Championship run-off, round 3: 1 Willis 21.69s; 2 Wallace Menzies (3.2 DJ Firestorm-Cosworth XD) 22.31s; 3 John Bradburn (3.5 Gould-Cosworth HB GR55) 22.81s; 4 Will Hall (3.5 Force-Nissan WH) 22.88s; 5 Scott Moran (3.5 Gould-NME GR61X) 23.38s; 6 Roger Moran (3.5 Gould-NME GR61X) 23.66s; 7 Richard Spedding (1.6 Force-Suzuki PC) 24.05s; 8 Eynon Price (1.6 Force-Suzuki PT) 24.33s; 9 Mike Manning (2.0t Ford Puma 4WD) 26.34s; Graham Wynn (1.3t Force-Hayabusa LM001) DNF; Simon Moyse (1.3s Gould-Suzuki GR59) DNF; Alex Summers (1.3s DJ Firehawk-Suzuki) DNF.
Championship run-off, round 4: Cancelled
Full results here.
Trevor Willis, seen here during practice, scored the first British win for his new OMS 28 (www.ZIPP.co.uk)
John Bradburn netted a strong third place at Barbon (www.ZIPP.co.uk)
MORAN’S PRESCOTT DOUBLE
Event 1 at Prescott on 28/04/2013
Scott Moran swept the board at
A superb performance by Alex Summers set a new 2-litre record during the morning class runs. The youngster then stormed up almost a second faster in the opening run-off to edge out Roger Moran and shadow Scott for second place. Throttle butterfly problems slowed his supercharged DJ Firehawk in the afternoon but sixth place, equal to Deryk Young’s Gould-Judd, earned enough points to leave
Trevor Willis shook down his new OMS 28 chassis with third place in the afternoon, just clear of Will Hall’s re-cammed Force-Nissan V6, as they bagged fourth and fifth on the table. In sixth spot, despite initial mapping problems with his new engine’s methanol fuel set-up, was Jos Goodyear in his GWR Raptor-Suzuki.
Wallace Menzies’ DJ Firestorm-Cosworth was also running methanol for the first time, but after a strong fourth place in the morning run-off the car was sidelined for the afternoon with a split fuel line. Richard Spedding and Eynon Price, who is sharing Spedding’s Force-Suzuki for the season, went well before lunch but were also sidelined for the afternoon with a broken driveshaft.
In the morning run-off John Bradburn, his potent Cosworth HB remapped and running traction control for the first time, stormed the hill to the halfway point faster even than Moran’s winning Gould. A spin at Semicircle ended the run, but he recovered for fifth place in the afternoon.
Graham Wynn’s newly turbocharged sports libre Force and Simon Fidoe’s tiny 1-litre Empire each made the afternoon cut. After problems with the supercharged Gould GR59 in 2012, Simon Moyse was delighted to make both run-offs despite finishing out of the points, but one of the happiest men at
AVON TYRES MSA BRITISH HILLCLIMB CHAMPIONSHIP,
FTD: Scott Moran (3.5 Gould-NME GR61X) 37.56s
Championship run-off, round 1: 1 Scott Moran 37.56s; 2 Alex Summers (1.3s DJ Firehawk-Suzuki) 37.98s; 3 Roger Moran (3.5 Gould-NME GR61X) 38.01s; 4 Wallace Menzies (3.2 DJ Firestorm-Cosworth XD) 38.17s; 5 Jos Goodyear (1.6 GWR Raptor-Suzuki) 38.18s; 6 Trevor Willis (3.2 OMS-Powertec 28) 38.25s; 7 Richard Spedding (1.6 Force-Suzuki PC) 38.26s; 8 Will Hall (3.5 Force-Nissan WH) 38.35s; 9 Eynon Price (1.6 Force-Suzuki PC) 38.59s; 10 Deryk Young (4.0 Gould-Judd EV GR51B) 38.82s; 11 Simon Moyse (1.3s Gould-Suzuki GR59) 39.97s; John Bradburn (3.5 Gould-Cosworth HB GR55) DNF.
Championship run-off-round 2: 1 Scott Moran 37.57s; 2 Roger Moran 37.84s; 3 Willis 38.15s; 4 Hall 38.54s; 5 Bradburn 39.09s; 6= Summers and Young 39.84s; 8 Goodyear 40.03s; 9 Steve Day (1.6 GWR Raptor-Suzuki) 40.38s; 10 Graham Wynn (1.3s Force-Suzuki LM) 40.57s; 11 Simon Fidoe (1.0 Empire-Suzuki 002) 40.98s; 12 Moyse 41.65s.
British Championship positions after round 2: 1 Scott Moran 20pts; 2 Roger Moran 17; 3 Summers 14; 4 Willis 13; 5 Hall 10; 6 Goodyear 9; etc.
Full results here.
Scott Moran was on unbeatable form at Prescott (John Hayward)
Alex Summers blitzed his new class record to chase Moran home (John Hayward)
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