BRITISH HILL CLIMB CHAMPIONSHIP - REPORT ARCHIVE

HALL DOMINATES LOTON FINALE

Event 17 at Loton Park on 28/09/2014

Will Hall rounded off his best ever year with a double win and FTD at Loton Park's British Hillclimb Championship finale. With two virtually identical runs, the Halesowen driver brought his tally of run-off wins to six, with five of them scored this year in his Ray Rowan run Force-Nissan V6. His championship third place was assured and he finished just five points behind series runner-up Trevor Willis, despite the 2012 champion's gearbox failing on the very last run-off of the year.

Already confirmed as champion after Doune, Scott Moran was content with a top three finish each time, but the meeting was also memorable for marking the final appearance at top level of his father Roger. Following a presentation at lunchtime of a 'retirement' cake and a scrapbook commemorating over 20 years in the sport with contributions from friends and fellow competitors, Roger ended his British hillclimb career with a strong fourth place finish in their all-conquering Gould GR61X.

His seat in the car next year will be taken over by Alex Summers, who is due to have his first competitive outing alongside Scott next Saturday at Prescott's Autumn Classic meeting, but Summers' final outing in his supercharged Firestorm, which has already been sold, proved disappointing for the 22-year-old after the gearbox input shaft broke during practice. He switched to elder brother Felix's 1100cc Force, but failed to find qualifying pace. Jos Goodyear, who had chased home Hall in the opening shoot-out, needed only a sixth place finish in the afternoon to prevent Summers taking a second successive championship fourth place. Third in the run-off, behind Hall and Moran, was enough to do the job and after something of a chequered year Goodyear, who had also confirmed his second Hillclimb Leaders title at Loton, took over fourth spot in the British Championship as well.

Wallace Menzies, his DJ Firestorm heavily damaged a week earlier at Doune, shared Hall's Force V6 at Loton. Despite a midweek shake-down at Curborough, midfield finishes in the unfamiliar car, just ahead of Tom New each time, were not quite enough to prevent delighted Gould-Judd driver New a best ever top six Championship finish.

AVON TYRES/TTC GROUP MSA BRITISH HILLCLIMB CHAMPIONSHIP, LOTON PARK

FTD: Will Hall (3.5 Force-Nissan WH) 44.01s

Championship run-off, round 33: 1 Hall 44.02s; 2 Jos Goodyear (1.3s GWR Raptor-Suzuki) 44.19s; 3 Scott Moran (3.5 Gould-NME GR61X) 44.26s; 4 Trevor Willis (3.2 OMS-Powertec 28) 44.91s; 5 Roger Moran (3.5 Gould-NME GR61X) 45.45s; 6 Deryk Young (4.0 Gould-Judd EV GR51B) 46.03s; 7 Wallace Menzies (3.5 Force-Nissan WH) 46.87s; 8 Tom New (4.0 Gould-Judd EV GR55) 47.04s; 9 Alastair Crawford (2.8 Gould-NME GR55C) 47.28s; 10 Oliver Tomlin (4.0 Pilbeam-Judd MP97) 47.50s; 11 Steve Owen (1.6 OMS-Suzuki 28) 47.53s; 12 Richard Spedding (1.6 Force-Suzuki PC) 47.73s.

Championship run-off, round 34: 1 Hall 44.02s; 2 Scott Moran 44.32s; 3 Goodyear 44.67s; 4 Roger Moran 45.41s; 5 Young 46.33s; 6 Menzies 47.17s; 7 New 47.21s;8 Dave Uren (1.3t Force-Suzuki PC) 47.24s; 9 Crawford 47.31s; 10 Owen 47.79s; 11 Paul Haimes (1.3t Gould-Suzuki GR59) 48.50s; Willis DNF (gearbox).

Final British Championship positions: 1 Scott Moran 262pts; 2 Trevor Willis 236; 3 Will Hall 231; 4 Jos Goodyear 186; 5 Alex Summers 182; 6 Tom New 125; 7 Wallace Menzies 121; 8 Roger Moran 108; 9 John Bradburn 100; 10 Alastair Crawford 70; etc.

Will Hall took his fifth win of the season at Loton Park (Rich Danby - zipp.co.uk)


Roger Moran at his 'retirement' presentation (Rich Danby - zipp.co.uk)

SCOTT MAKES IT FIVE

Event 16 at Doune on 21/09/2014

As British hillclimbers converged on the daunting Carse of Cambus hill at Doune for the penultimate event in this year's Championship, Scott Moran needed just a third place finish in the opening run-off to secure the 2014 title. But he did it in style with a win, and in a time which would stand as FTD. He'd set Trevor Willis a virtually impossible task - to win the remaining four rounds with a record each time to have any chance of taking the title, but that decisive win sealed the outcome beyond all doubt and Scott became only the fourth driver in the 68 year history of the British Championship to win it more than four times.

One of only four drivers to break the 36sec barrier, Willis ran third fastest on the day. Despite only fourth and third place run-off finishes, his championship runner-up spot looks fairly safe as Will Hall is still ten points adrift coming into this weekend's Loton Park finale. Hall, whose 2014 campaign in his sonorous V6 Nissan engined Force is masterminded by 1989 champion Ray Rowan, qualified top with a new class record for the opening shoot-out and went on to finish second, but was outgunned by Willis in the afternoon when the top three drivers ran way inside his new record. Notable among them was Jos Goodyear, who despite clattering the barriers with the Raptor at Junction during Saturday's practice and being unable to better officially his 2-litre class record on Sunday, unofficially blitzed it with third place in the morning shoot-out and went on to find another three-quarters of a second as he stormed to the win and second FTD in the afternoon stanza.

Behind the top four, Alex Summers brought the supercharged Firehawk home fifth each time ahead of Tom New, who moved the Gould-Judd up into the championship top six for the first time. It was with mixed feelings, however, as the man he displaced was Wallace Menzies, who had his second big accident of the season in the DJ Firestorm during the opening run-off. Happily, Wallace emerged none the worse for wear this time, but after going off into the trees on the run up to East Brae, the car was badly damaged.

At the other end of the order, Les Mutch was delighted with his first British point in the ex.Steve Day GWR Raptor, although his second run-off shot was less successful after a non-damaging spin at East Brae. Although Ian Dayson had worked wonders to prepare the Force for the fray after the Gurston accident, Richard Spedding, still feeling the after-effects, was less than confident about hanging on to his championship tenth place. A finish out of the points in the morning confirmed his fears as Alastair Crawford slipped ahead after a seventh place finish in the Gould-NME. Richard salvaged a point in the afternoon, but his deficit had increased to five points.

AVON TYRES/TTC GROUP MSA BRITISH HILLCLIMB CHAMPIONSHIP, DOUNE

FTD: Scott Moran (3.5 Gould-NME GR61X)

Championship run-off, round 31: 1 Moran 35.16s; 2 Will Hall (3.5 Force-Nissan WH) 35.79; 3 Jos Goodyear (1.3s GWR Raptor-Suzuki) 35.91s; 4 Trevor Willis (3.2 OMS-RPE 28) 35.96s; 5 Alex Summers (1.3s DJ Firehawk-Suzuki) 36.48s; 6 Tom New (4.0 Gould-Judd EV GR55) 37.00s; 7 Alastair Crawford (2.8 Gould-NME GR55C) 38.04s; 8 Dave Uren (1.3 Force-Suzuki PC) 38.20s; 9 George Coghill Jr (1.0t Force-Suzuki PT) 39.43s; 10 Les Mutch (1.6 GWR Raptor-Suzuki) 39.54s; 11 Richard Spedding (1.6 Force-Suzuki PC) 40.29s; Wallace Menzies (3.3 DJ Firestorm-Cosworth XD) DNF (accident).

Championship run-off, round 32: 1 Goodyear 35.20s; 2 Moran 35.38s; 3 Willis 35.60s; 4 Hall 35.72s; 5 Summers 36.63s; 6 New 37.18s; 7 Crawford 38.09s; 8 Uren 39.01s; 9 Coghill Jr 40.78s; 10 Spedding 40.87s; 11 Steve Marr (1.1 PCD Saxon-Suzuki) 41.50s; 12 Simon Fidoe (1.0 Empire Wraith-Suzuki) 41.98s.

British Championship positions after round 32: 1 Moran 258pts; 2 Willis 235; 3 Hall 225; 4 Summers 182; 5 Goodyear 169; 6 New 119; etc.

Congratulations all round, including from son Oliver and wife Debbie, as Scott seals his fifth title (zipp.co.uk)


Jos Goodyear threads the Raptor between the Doune barriers at Oak Tree on his way to the second run-off win (Rich Danby - zipp.co.uk)

GOODYEAR'S RECORD PRESCOTT

Event 15 at Prescott on 07/09/2014

Once again it was Jos Goodyear that made the British Hillclimb headlines as the series moved to Prescott for the second time this year. After he had crashed the Raptor out of the morning class runs, the team worked hard to repair the car in time for the afternoon session. Jos immediately repaid them with a new 2-litre class record and a top qualifying spot for the closing run-off, going on to set a phenomenal new Prescott record threequarters of a second inside the old standard jointly held by Trevor Willis and Scott Moran.

Determined to revitalise his rapidly fading chances of a 2014 BHC title Trevor Willis was the first driver to lower the hill record, during the opening shoot-out. His rival, championship leader Scott Moran, just failed to match the time but then top qualifier Will Hall, arguably the most improved driver of the season, became the first driver to ascend Prescott inside 36 seconds to win the run-off in the bellowing Force-Nissan V6. He was unable to repeat his time in the afternoon stanza, ending up third behind Moran who grabbed the extra point by running a hundredth inside Willis's first record shot. Even so, it was the amazing combination of Goodyear and the Raptor that eventually stole the show in time-honoured fashion - on the very last run of the day.

However despite Trevor's determined season-long campaign, nothing short of a miracle can now prevent Scott from taking the title at Doune in a fortnight. Having increased his lead over the OMS driver to 21 points, and with dropped scores now coming into play, only a failure by Scott to score any more points during the season combined with four more wins by Willis, all with extra record points, would prevent Moran taking a fifth title, a tally so far achieved by just three drivers in the history of the Championship.

At the other end of the top ten lineup Richard Spedding, following his big accident at Gurston Down a fortnight ago, bravely attempted to hang on to his coveted 'number 10' at the wheel of Tina Hawkes' Force-Suzuki. The strain on his injured neck forced the plucky Yorkshireman to retire after practice, but after a period of intensive physio he hopes to back in action with his own car at Doune as his advantage over the eleventh placed Alastair Crawford has now been reduced to just two points.

AVON TYRES/TTC GROUP MSA BRITISH HILLCLIMB CHAMPIONSHIP, PRESCOTT

FTD; Jos Goodyear (1.3s GWR Raptor-Suzuki) 35.51s (Outright hill record)

Championship run-off, round 29: 1 Will Hall (3.5 Force-Nissan WH) 35.95s; 2 Trevor Willis (3.2 OMS-RPE 28) 36.04s; 3 Scott Moran (3.5 Gould-NME GR61X) 36.26s; 4 Tom New (4.0 Gould-Judd GR55) 37.06s; 5 Alex Summers (1.3s DJ Firehawk-Suzuki) 37.18s; 6 Roger Moran (3.5 Gould-NME GR61X) 37.25s; 7 John Bradburn (3.5 Gould-Cosworth GR55) 37.49s; 8 Oliver Tomlin (4.0 Pilbeam-Judd MP97) 38.00s; 9 Wallace Menzies (3.2 DJ Firestorm-Cosworth) 38.01s; 10 Alastair Crawford (2.8 Gould-NME GR55) 38.48s;11David Uren (1.3t Force-Suzuki PC) 38.78s; 12 Paul Haimes (1.3t Gould-Suzuki GR59) 38.99s.

Championship run-off, round 30: 1 Goodyear 35.51s; 2 Scott Moran 36.03s; 3 Hall 36.48s; 4 Summers 36.98s; 5 Willis 37.03s; 6 Roger Moran 37.47s; 7 Menzies 37.71s; 8 Tomlin 37.87s; 9 Uren 37.99s; 10 Crawford 38.39s; 11 Bradburn 38.44s; 12 Steve Owen (1.6 OMS-Suzuki 28) 38.47s.

British Championship positions after round 30: 1 Scott Moran 251pts; 2 Willis 230; 3 Hall 219; 4 Summers 170; 5 Goodyear 151; 6 Menzies 112; etc.

Jos Goodyear bounced back from an accident in the morning to set a new Prescott hill record (Eddie Walder)


Will Hall won the opening run-off with his second hill record of the year (Eddie Walder)

MORAN TAKES GURSTON RECORD

Event 14 at Gurston Down on 24/08/2014

In a superb demonstration of controlled aggression at Gurston Down, Scott Moran not only took both run-off wins but with the second, he finally broke Martin Groves' seven-year-old outright record for the fast Wiltshire hillclimb. 'I've wanted that one for a long time,' said the British Championship leader. 'I could never quite understand how Martin managed to set that time in 2007.' Championship rival Trevor Willis finished joint runner-up with Will Hall in the first run-off but could only manage fourth place, nine hundredths behind the consistently rapid Hall, in the second. So with the points difference between the two leaders now increased to 19 it's looking increasingly as though Moran is heading for a fifth British title.

In another stirring performance in his GWR Raptor, Jos Goodyear ran Moran closest. He twice reset his own 2-litre class record in the tiny red missile, the second time topping the afternoon Q-sheets before running even faster in the run-off itself. Despite running a respectful half-second behind Moran's record run he still set second FTD, crossing the finish at an astonishing 155mph on a day when only the big V8s of Moran and Wallace Menzies managed to edge past the magic 150mph barrier.

With two fifth place finishes in the supercharged Firehawk, Moran's co-driver for 2015 Alex Summers maintained a 17 point cushion over the steadily advancing Goodyear. With Gurston traditionally a power hill, of the 1600cc bike-engined brigade only Steve Owen made the cut, for the afternoon run-off, after Richard Spedding had a huge accident exiting Hollow Bend in the Force-Suzuki during the first set of class runs. The car was badly damaged but happily Richard emerged shaken but otherwise unhurt.

Among the class run highlights were another big sports libre record for the amazing Mannic-Beattie of Nic Mann and a superb debut performance by Ed Hollier's new Empire single seater, developed by Ed himself and his father Bob. Having turned a wheel for the first time only a few days earlier at Clay Pigeon kart track, the new car took the 1600cc class win ahead of Owen.

AVON TYRES/TTC GROUP MSA BRITISH HILLCLIMB CHAMPIONSHIP, GURSTON DOWN

FTD: Scott Moran (3.5 Gould-NME GR61X) 25.37s (Outright hill record)

Championship run-off, round 27: Scott Moran 25.81s; 2= Trevor Willis (3.2 OMS-RPE 28) and Will Hall (3.5 Force-Nissan WH) 25.93s; 4 Jos Goodyear (1.3s GWR Raptor-Suzuki) 26.02s; 5 Alex Summers (1.3s DJ Firehawk-Suzuki) 26.23s; 6 John Bradburn (3.5 Gould-Cosworth HB GR55) 26.59s; 7 Wallace Menzies (3.3 DJ Firestorm-Cosworth XD) 26.60s; 8 Tom New (4.0 Gould-Judd EV GR55) 26.69s; 9 Alastair Crawford (2.8 Gould-NME GR55C) 26.92s; 10 Roger Moran (3.5 Gould-NME GR61X) 27.38s; 11 Dave Uren (1.3t Force-Suzuki PC) 27.44s; 12 Paul Haimes (1.3t Gould-Suzuki GR59) 34.22s.

Championship run-off, round 28: Scott Moran 25.37s; 2 Goodyear 25.83s; 3 Hall 26.09s; 4 Willis 26.14s; 5 Summers 26.19s; 6 Crawford 26.66s; 7 New 26.95s; 8 Menzies 27.04s; 9 Bradburn 27.13s; 10 Uren 27.45s; 11 Roger Moran 27.52s; 12 Steve Owen (1.6 OMS-Suzuki 28) 28.43s.

British Championship positions after round 28: 1 Scott Moran 233pts; 2 Willis 214; 3 Hall 200; 4 Summers 157; 5 Goodyear 140; 6 Menzies 106; etc.

Scott Moran finally broke Martin Groves' 7-year-old Gurston hill record (John Hayward)


Jos Goodyear produced astonishing pace to chase Moran home (John Hayward)

GOODYEAR'S SHELSLEY STORMER

Event 13 at Shelsley Walsh on 17/08/2014

With the 120th British run-off win of his career, Scott Moran increased his Championship lead over Trevor Willis, never really on the pace with two fifth place finishes, to secure the opening shoot-out at Shelsley Walsh. But even the four-time champion had no answer to the dynamic Jos Goodyear in the afternoon. After qualifying with an astonishing 22.86s class record that would stand as FTD, less than three tenths away from a spectating Martin Groves' outright hill record, the Raptor-Suzuki driver matched Moran's 137mph pace into Bottom Ess to win the second run-off in a time within five hundredths of his earlier shot, remaining the only driver on the day to break the 23sec barrier.

A revitalised Alex Summers showed renewed commitment to chase Moran home in the first run-off on a weekend when the news broke that with Scott's father Roger standing down in 2015, the Firehawk-Suzuki driver will be driving alongside the defending champion in the Gould-NME V8. In the closing stanza, he brought the screaming Firehawk-Suzuki home fourth behind the consistent Will Hall, who had qualified the Force V6 top in the morning before going on to bag another couple of third place finishes. With eight rounds still to run nothing is certain, but on current form Hall looks set to end his best ever year with a top three Championship finish ahead of Summers.

On his return to the scene of his big accident in June, Wallace Menzies held nothing back in the Firestorm, clocking a day's best 148mph over the finish. But in a disappointing day for the Scot, a broken driveshaft on his first qualifying run and a failure to qualify for the second left him with no score.

The fine weather brought out huge crowds to watch a spectacular day's hillclimbing on a day when no less than ten British champions were present. Apart from Scott Moran and Trevor Willis, of the 'old brigade' both Martin Bolsover and David Franklin were competing, in McLaren M6 GT and Ferrari 275 GTB respectively. The event also celebrated 80 years of the ERA marque, while three class records fell to their previous holders: Roy Standley (Mitsubishi Evo 5), Richard Jones (Brabham BT29X) and, of course, Jos Goodyear.

AVON TYRES/TTC GROUP MSA BRITISH HILLCLIMB CHAMPIONSHIP, SHELSLEY WALSH

FTD: Jos Goodyear (1.3s GWR Raptor-Suzuki) 22.86s

Championship run-off, round 25: 1 Scott Moran (3.5 Gould-NME GR61X) 23.09s; 2 Alex Summers (1.3s DJ Firehawk-Suzuki) 23.20s; 3 Will Hall (3.5 Force-Nissan WH) 23.30s; 4 Goodyear 23.33s; 5 Trevor Willis 23.48s; 6 Tom New (4.0 Gould-Judd EV GR55) 23.94s; 7 Roger Moran (3.5 Gould-NME GR61X) 24.16s; 8 Deryk Young (4.0 Gould-Judd EV GR51B) 24.28s; 9 John Bradburn (3.5 Gould-Cosworth HB GR55) 24.72s; 10 Alastair Crawford (2.8 Gould-NME GR55C) 24.95s; 11 Dave Uren (1.3t Force-Suzuki PC) 25.00s; 12 Susan Young (4.0 Gould-Judd EV GR51B) 25.13s.

Championship run-off, round 26: 1 Goodyear 22.91s; 2 Scott Moran 23.08s; 3 Hall 24.06s; 4 Summers 23.36s; 5 Willis 24.00s; 6 New 24.18s; 7 Roger Moran 24.39s; 8 Bradburn 24.35s; 9 Deryk Young 24.62s; 10 Uren 24.75s; 11 Crawford 24.83s; 12Susan Young 25.09s.

British Championship positions after round 26: 1 Scott Moran 212pts; 2 Willis 198; 3 Hall 183; 4 Summers 145; 5 Goodyear 124; 6 Menzies 99; etc.

Jos Goodyear came within three tenths of setting a new hill record at Shelsley (Rich Danby - zipp.co.uk)


After announcing that he'd be sharing Scott Moran's Gould next season, Alex Summers chased his mentor hard in the Firehawk (Rich Danby - zipp.co.uk)

TWO FOR WILLIS IN ULSTER

Event 12 at Craigantlet on 02/08/2014

Strengthening his bid to close in on series leader Scott Moran, Trevor Willis won both rounds in Ulster as the British hillclimbers moved across the Irish Sea to Craigantlet. They marked his first run-off victory since Loton Park in June. Hill record holder Moran had an indifferent day on a hill where continual rain had led to standing water from the start of practice which only started to dry out in welcome mid-afternoon sunshine. But with only fifth and fourth place finishes in his Gould-NME, Moran's advantage over Willis was narrowed to just seven points.

Willis had to work hard in the opening shoot-out as Wiscombe double winner Will Hall closed his Force-Nissan V6 to within nineteen hundredths for second place, but the OMS V8's superior pace on the faster top section of the challenging road course on the outskirts of Belfast paid off. With the closing battle fought out in improving conditions Willis, although still three seconds away from hill record pace, took his second win of the day and FTD by almost threequarters of a second.

In a return to form aboard the spectacular DJ Firestorm, Wallace Menzies chased the leaders home each time, clocking the fastest speed over the high speed dash to the finish through the byways at Pringle and out on the main road.

The leading half-dozen Championship placings remained unchanged with Alex Summers hanging on to fourth place as he swapped places with Moran, but after a broken throttle position sensor during qualifying had sidelined Jos Goodyear from the opening run-off he recovered, but only to eighth place, allowing the revitalised Menzies to move to within eight points of the Raptor driver's score.

Tom New and John Bradburn were tied on points at the start of the event and their ongoing duel raged on despite the latter's Gould HB running short of fuel and failing to score early on. But a big sideways moment during the afternoon and a consequent drop to ninth place meant that by the close of play, New held the advantage by a single point.

With the 'power hills' of Shelsley and Gurston next on the agenda, given good weather Willis might be struggling and the advantage should lie with Moran, but you on current form you can never discount Will Hall from closing in still further on the Championship leaders as the season moves into its third and final phase.

AVON TYRES/TTC GROUP MSA BRITISH HILLCLIMB CHAMPIONSHIP, CRAIGANTLET

FTD: Trevor Willis (3.2 OMS-RPE 28) 42.40s

Championship run-off, round 23: 1 Willis 44.31s; 2 Will Hall (3.5 Force-Nissan WH) 44.48s; 3 Wallace Menzies (3.3 DJ Firestorm-Cosworth XD) 45.09s; 4 Alex Summers (1.3s DJ Firehawk-Suzuki) 45.64s; 5 Scott Moran (3.5 Gould-NME GR61X) 45.85s; 6 Roger Moran (3.5 Gould-NME GR61X) 47.57s; 7 Tom New (4.0 Gould-Judd EV GR55) 47.98s; 8 Alastair Crawford (2.8 Gould-NME GR55C) 48.52s; 9 Richard Spedding (1.6 Force-Suzuki PC) 49.62s; 10 Graham Wynn (1.4t Force-Hayabusa LM001) 49.96s; 11 Dave Uren (1.3t Force-Suzuki PC) 50.56s; 12 John Bradburn (3.5 Gould-Cosworth HB GR55) 56.76s.

Championship run-off, round 24: 1 Willis 42.40s; 2 Hall 43.07s; 3 Menzies 43.10s; 4 Scott Moran 43.82s; 5 Summers 45.00s; 6 Bradburn 45.39s; 7 Roger Moran 45.65s; 8 Jos Goodyear (1.3s GWR Raptor-Suzuki) 46.08s; 9 New 46.62s; 10 Spedding 46.93s; Crawford DNF; Uren DNS.

British Championship positions after round 24: 1 Scott Moran 193pts; 2 Willis 186; 3 Hall 167; 4 Summers 129; 5 Goodyear 107; 6 Menzies 99; etc.

Trevor Willis strengthened his 2014 title challenge with a double win (Eddie Walder)


Wallace Menzies' return to form netted two third places (Eddie Walder)

HALL AND WILLIS SHARE WISCOMBE RECORD

Event 11 at Wiscombe Park on 27/07/2014

'After his performance in practice, I expect Jos Goodyear to be the man to beat at Wiscombe Park today,' said Trevor Willis on Sunday morning. But in a tense three-way battle in the Devon sunshine, it was Will Hall that took both British hillclimb run-off wins and left Wiscombe Park sharing a new course record with Willis, who could only finish third each time as Goodyear split the battling duo in each run-off.

A delighted Hall was first inside Willis's 2012 hill record, storming his Force-Nissan V6 to the opening run-off win, only the second of his career. Goodyear hustled the tiny supercharged Raptor up through the woods for second place a mere two hundredths outside the old hill standard, but with the oil pressure bleeper and warning light coming on up Castle Straight, Willis backed off a fraction and slipped to third.

The problem appeared to lie with the sensor, for on his afternoon qualifying run in the OMS-RPE V8 he lopped another tenth of Hall's short-lived hill record, only for Hall to equal Willis's new mark in the second run-off and take his second win of the day. Having qualified inside Alex Summers' new 2-litre class record, set in the morning, Goodyear found even more in the Raptor to edge out Willis to third once again after Trevor, struggling with mismatched front and rear tyres, all but lost the OMS under braking for the Gateway.

Tom New had his best combined result of the season with fourth place each time in the big Gould-Judd, but after setting that first 2-litre record in the morning to qualify second, Summers snapped a driveshaft on the line. Slick work by the team in the lunchbreak replaced the shaft and the Firehawk driver was able to salvage fifth place in the closing run-off.

With both Scott and Roger Moran giving the event a miss, the Championship leaders are now effectively on a level playing field with two 'no-scores' each. So with Hall closing in, Willis is now 14 points behind Moran Jr on the Championship table as they head across the Irish Sea to Craigantlet's rapid Belfast road course next weekend.

AVON TYRES/TTC GROUP MSA BRITISH HILLCLIMB CHAMPIONSHIP, WISCOMBE PARK

FTD: Will Hall (3.5 Force-Nissan WH) and Trevor Willis (3.2 OMS-RPE 28) 33.79s (Outright hill record)

Championship run-off, round 21: 1 Hall 33.89s; 2 Jos Goodyear (1.3s GWR Raptor-Suzuki) 33.94s; 3 Willis 34.45s; 4 Tom New (4.0 Gould-Judd EV GR55) 34.98s; 5 Wallace Menzies (3.3 DJ Firestorm-Cosworth XD) 35.29s; 6 Dave Uren (1.3t Force-Suzuki PC) 35.99s; 7 Richard Spedding (1.6 Force-Suzuki PC) 36.18s; 8 Jason Mourant (3.2 OMS-RPE 25) 37.66s; 9 Simon Fidoe (1.0 Empire Wraith-Suzuki) 37.79s; 10 John Bradburn (3.5 Gould-Cosworth HB GR55) 40.55s; 11 Tony Hunt (1.3s Force-Hayabusa PC) 50.27s; Alex Summers (1.3s DJ Firehawk-Suzuki) DNS

Championship run-off, round 22: 1 Hall 33.79s; 2 Goodyear 34.22s; 3 Willis 34.36s; 4 New 34.61s; 5 Summers 34.70s; 6 Spedding 35.83s; 7 Uren 36.08s; 8 Bradburn 36.56s; 9 Menzies 36.99s; 10 Mourant 37.52s; 11 Fidoe 37.61s; 12 Graham Wynn (1.4t Force-Hayabusa LM001) 38.49s.

British Championship positions after round 22: 1 Scott Moran 180pts; 2 Willis 166; 3 Hall 149; 4 Summers 116; 5 Goodyear 104; 6 Menzies 83; etc.

Will Hall slides out of Sawbench on his way to a double run-off win (Rich Danby - zipp .co.uk)


Trevor Willis cuts it fine in the Esses but has to share the hill record (Rich Danby - zipp.co.uk)

GOODYEAR'S GUERNSEY DOUBLE

Event 10 at Le Val Des Terres on 19/07/2014

Ferry problems had posed difficulties during the week and three competitors (Graham Wynn, Simon Fidoe and Guernseyman Nick Saunders) missed out on the trip across to Guernsey. After torrential hail had temporarily halted practice at Le Val des Terres another local, Ian Le Messurier in his Lemtec, qualified top for the opening run-off. But when it got underway on a drying track hill record-holder Goodyear, who had qualified mid-field, was back on form to take another win ahead of Scott Moran, with Will Hall taking another third place. The arrival of the determined Messurier to close the run-off was eagerly awaited at the top of the hill, but unfortunately the Lemtec ended in the bank on the last bend...

In dry conditions, the second run-off produced the same top three. Goodyear missed his hill record by less than four tenths, second place man Moran finished the two days as top Channel Islands scorer, despite only taking one win, and Will Hall consolidated his third place on the Championship table after a trio of third place run-off finishes. After a series of indifferent results on this year's trip Trevor Willis now trails Moran by 30 points, but the deficit is likely to be reduced at Wiscombe Park next weekend, where once again the Morans are not competing.

AVON TYRES/TTC GROUP MSA BRITISH HILLCLIMB CHAMPIONSHIP, LE VAL DES TERRES

FTD: Jos Goodyear (1.3s GWR Raptor-Suzuki) 27.55s

Championship run-off, round 19: 1 Goodyear 29.75s; 2 Scott Moran (3.5 Gould-NME GR61X) 30.35; 3 Hall (3.5 Force-Nissan WH) 30.36s; 4 Menzies (3.3 DJ Firestorm-Cosworth) 31.00s; 5 Willis (3.2 OMS-RPE 28) 31.20s; 6 Chris Guille (2.0 OMS-Vauxhall CF04) 31.38s; 7 Summers (1.3s DJ Firehawk-Suzuki) 31.49s; 8 Roger Moran (3.5 Gould-NME GR61X) 33.08s; 9 Charlie Smith (1.6 OMS-Suzuki 25) 33.34s; 10 Geoff Guille (2.0 OMS-Vauxhall CF04) 33.35s; 11 Martin Jones (1.0 Force-Suzuki PT) 34.72s; Ian Le Messurier (1.3 Lemtech-Suzuki DB03) DNF.

Championship run-off, round 20: 1 Goodyear 27.55s; 2 Scott Moran 27.75s; 3 Hall 28.22s; 4 Warwick 28.48s; 5 Willis 28.71s; 6 Summers 29.39s; 7 New 29.48s; 8 Menzies 29.68s; 9 Chris Guille 29.73s; 10 Roger Moran 29.81s; 11 Bradburn 30.26s; 12 Geoff Guille 31.80s.

British Championship positions after round 20: 1 Scott Moran 180pts; 2 Willis 150; 3 Hall 127; 4 Summers 110; 5 Goodyear 86; 6= Menzies and Bradburn 75; etc.

Hill record-holder Jos Goodyear won both rounds at Le Val des Terres (Rich Danby - Zipp.co.uk))


Will Hall sets out to brave the dire conditions in practice (Rich Danby - zipp.co.uk)

FIRST BRITISH WIN FOR WARWICK

Event 9 at Bouley Bay on 17/07/2014

The opening run-off at Bouley Bay ran according to the formbook when the British Hillclimb Championship made its annual visit to the Channel Islands for the four-round contest on Jersey and Guernsey. Chased hard by Jos Goodyear, championship leader Scott Moran took the win with Will Hall taking third place ahead of Trevor Willis who, with this his best result of the two days, had a difficult time on the Islands.In fifth place, Alex Summers headed a tie for sixth between Tom New and Wallace Menzies.

The weather intervened to produce a dramatic second stanza, but not before Roger Moran, the first to run, had broken a driveshaft prompting much frantic repair work before Scott's run eight cars later. Channel Islands hero Darren Warwick ran just before Moran Jr and set the pace in his Dallara just before the rain set in. With the shaft replaced, Scott charged up in the drizzle but just failed to match the Guernseyman's time and Warwick took his first ever British run-off victory. The weather played into the hands of comparatively early runner John Bradburn who, after finishing out of the points in the morning, brought the big Gould-Judd home in third place in the afternoon. It didn't work so well for some. By the end of the run-off, conditions were so bad that top qualifier Goodyear finished out of the points.

AVON TYRES/TTC GROUP MSA BRITISH HILLCLIMB CHAMPIONSHIP, BOULEY BAY

FTD: Scott Moran (3.5 Gould-NME GR61X) 37.67s

Championship run-off, round 17: 1 Scott Moran 37.67s; 2 Jos Goodyear (1.3s GWR Raptor-Suzuki) 37.86s; 3 Will Hall (3.5 Force-Nissan WH) 37.95s; 4 Trevor Willis (3.2 OMS-RPE 28) 38.27s; 5 Alex Summers (1.3s DJ-Firehawk-Suzuki) 38.54s; 6= Tom New (4.0 Gould-Judd GR55) and Wallace Menzies (3.3 DJ Firestorm-Cosworth) 38.79s; 8 Roger Moran (3.5 Gould-NME GR61X) 38.89s; 9 Richard Spedding (1.6 Force-Suzuki PC) 39.10s; 10 Darren Warwick (2.0 Dallara-Vauxhall) 39.19s; 11 Alastair Crawford (2.8 Gould-NME GR55) 39.54; 12 John Bradburn (3.5 Gould-Cosworth HB GR55) 40.14s.

Championship run-off, round 18:1 Warwick 39.25s; 2 Scott Moran 39.37s; 3 Bradburn 39.43s; 4 Hall 39.89s; 5 Crawford 39.94s; 6 Willis 40.03s; 7 Jason Mourant (3.2 OMS-RPE 25) 40.11s; 8 Summers 40.29s; 9 Menzies 40.32s; 10 New 41.08s; 11 Goodyear 42.68s; Roger Moran DNS.

Darren Warwick took his first British round win on Jersey (Rich Danby - zipp.co.uk)


Scott Moran was top scorer on the Channel Islands (Rich Danby - zipp.co.uk)

HUNDREDTHS AT HAREWOOD

Event 8 at Harewood on 06/07/2014

British Hillclimb Championship leader Scott maintained his edge over Trevor Willis as both drivers homed in on the hill record in the closing run-off. After Moran had taken a nine tenths win over his rival in the opening shoot-out,a much closer duel in the afternoon saw the hill record-holder fail to match his 2013 benchmark by just a hundredth of a second, while moments earlier Willis had missed it by five hundredths. But a big slide at Quarry could have cost Scott the record. 'I went in much quicker,' he said, 'so one cancelled out the other!' With his second successive double win of the year, Moran stretched his Championship advantage to 17 points and although Will Hall maintained his third place on the table with two fourth place run-off finishes, his score is now a full 30 points adrift of Willis's total.

Third in each run-off and now just four points behind the Force-Nissan driver is a resurgent Alex Summers. After a difficult few weekends, both car and driver are right back on form. Having run inside his 2-litre class record in practice and the morning run-off, he reset it officially in afternoon qualifying and went on to run well over a second inside his old mark in the closing run-off with Harewood's first ever sub-50 by a 2-litre.

Tied for fifth place on the table with Wallace Menzies and John Bradburn coming to Harewood, Jos Goodyear's surge up the championship table was halted whena supercharger impellor shaft broke during morning practice and the Raptor took no further part. Jos was philosophical: 'Better here than on the first run in the Channel Islands in a fortnight!' said the Val des Terres record-holder, although it meant he slipped back to a championship eighth place. It was good to see Wallace and the Firestorm back in action again after the big Shelsley shunt. Both were understandably playing themselves in, with the car still minus a few parts such as an engine cover and full undertray, but although Menzies was edged out of the morning cut by Steve Owen, he qualified and finished tenth in the afternoon and ended up seventh on the table. With midfield finishes each time, the consistent John Bradburn took sole charge of the championship fifth place and Roger Moran moved back into the top six.

For the second time this year a current BTCC driver took part in a hillclimb as Tom Ingram brought his Toyota Avensis to Harewood. Although, like Matt Neal at Gurston, Tom was hugely impressed by the event he unfortunately retired early when the car's gearbox cried enough coming out of Farmhouse on his first competition run.

AVON TYRES/TTC GROUP MSA BRITISH HILLCLIMB CHAMPIONSHIP, HAREWOOD

FTD: Scott Moran (3.5 Gould-NME GR61X) 49.03s

Championship run-off, round 15: 1 Scott Moran 49.10s; 2 Trevor Willis (3.2 OMS-Powertec 28) 49.90s; 3 Alex Summers (1.3s DJ Firehawk-Suzuki) 50.06s; 4 Will Hall (3.5 Force-Nissan WH) 50.23s; 5 John Bradburn (3.5 Gould-Cosworth HB GR55) 50.40s; 6 Richard Spedding (1.6 Force-Suzuki PC) 50.60s; 7 Roger Moran (3.5 Gould-NME GR61X) 51.41s; 8 Alastair Crawford (2.8 Gould-NME GR55) 51.42s; 9 Tom New (4.0 Gould-Judd GR55) 52.50s; 10 Steve Owen (1.6 OMS-Suzuki 28) 53.06s; 11 Oliver Tomlin (4.0 Pilbeam-Judd MP97) 59.72s; 12 Deryk Young (4.0 Gould-Judd EV GR51B) 84.51s (g/box).

Championship run-off, round 16: 1 Scott Moran 49.03s; 2 Willis 49.06s; 3 Summers 49.67s; 4 Hall 49.74s; 5 Spedding 50.66s; 6 Roger Moran 50.78s; 7 Bradburn 51.27s; 8 Owen 50.78s; 9 New 51.48s; 10 Wallace Menzies (3.3 DJ Firestorm-Cosworth XD) 51.77s; 11 Tomlin 51.65s; 12 Crawford 51.77s.

British championship positions after round 16: 1 Scott Moran 143pts; 2 Willis 126; 3 Hall 96; 4 Summers 92; 5 John Bradburn 67; 6 Roger Moran 60; etc.

Scott Moran narrowly missed a new hill record as he took his second successive double win (Rich Danby - zipp.co.uk)


Trevor Willis had his tightest duel of the season so far with rival Scott Moran (Rich Danby - zipp.co.uk)

RECORD BLITZ AT DOUNE

Event 7 at Doune on 22/06/2014

With Doune's 'King of Hills' enjoying its best weather for several years, a stupendous day of British hillclimbing saw the five-year-old hill record take a pounding by no less than three drivers. It was Jos Goodyear that first revised Scott Moran's long-standing outright record during the opening run-off, having already carved over two seconds off Alex Summers' 2-litre class record to qualify second fastest behind Moran - and this after running inside it on all four practice runs in his diminutive bike-engined GWR Raptor. Moments later, Moran countered this, another new outright mark with Doune's first ever sub-35sec run, going on to win the second run-off with a 34.76 that stood as FTD and bagging the two extra points to score the first 22-point maximum of his illustrious hillclimb career. With another second place finish, again inside the original record, Goodyear also bagged an extra point each time. Despite having scored in only half of this season's 14 rounds so far, his inexorable rise up the British Championship ladder from ninth to fifth place on the table puts Goodyear level on points with John Bradburn and Wallace Menzies - the latter present at Doune but not driving as neither he nor the Firestorm were fully recovered from the Shelsley accident.

The third driver to bag the extra point for running under the old hill record was Trevor Willis, who finished third in the afternoon run-off. But a tardy sixth place for the OMS-Powertec driver in the morning shoot-out meant that his deficit toseries leader Moran increased to 15 points. The 2012 champion is still 26 points clear of Will Hall, who ran fourth each time at Doune. Still six points adrift of the Force-Nissan driver, Alex Summers shadowed Goodyear in the class runs aboard the supercharged Firehawk, now repaired after the Loton accident. Like his rival, he was also well inside his own 2-litre record on both class runs and trailed Goodyear for third place in the morning shoot-out, before chasing Hall for fifth place in the afternoon.

AVON TYRES/TTC GROUP MSA BRITISH HILLCLIMB CHAMPIONSHIP, DOUNE

FTD: Scott Moran (3.5 Gould-NME GR61X) 34.76s (outright hill record)

Championship run-off, round 13: 1 Moran 34.99s; 2 Jos Goodyear (1.3s GWR Raptor-Suzuki) 35.36s; 3 Alex Summers (1.3s DJ Firehawk-Suzuki) 36.39s; 4 Will Hall (3.5 Force-Nissan WH) 37.07s; 5 Tom New (4.0 Gould-Judd GR55) 37.39s; 6 Trevor Willis (3.2 OMS-Powertec 28) 37.69s; 7 Richard Spedding (1.6 Force-Suzuki PC) 47.11s; 8John Bradburn (3.5 Gould-Cosworth HB GR55) 38.55s; 9 Ross Napier (3.5 Gould-Cosworth GR37) 38.80s; 10 Stewart Robb (4.0 Pilbeam-Judd MP88) 39.06s; 11 Alastair Crawford (2.8 Gould-NME GR55) 39.39s; George Coghill Jnr. (1.0t Force-Suzuki PT) 40.14s

Championship run-off, round 14: 1 Moran 34.76s; 2 Goodyear 35.05s; 3 Willis 35.50s; 4 Hall 35.99s; 5 Summers 36.39s; 6 New 36.85s; 7 Napier 38.13s; 8 Spedding 38.21s; 9 Crawford 38.41s; 10 Bradburn 38.87s; 11 Coghill Jnr 39.19s; David Uren (1.3t Force-Suzuki PC) DNS.

British championship positions after round 14:1 Scott Moran 123pts; 2 Willis 108; 3 Hall 82; 4 Summers 76; 5 Wallace Menzies, Goodyear, Bradburn 57; etc.

Scott Moran topped Doune's record-breakers with two sub-35sec runs (Eddie Walder)


Jos Goodyear was the first to break Doune's five-year-old hill record (Eddie Walder)

MORAN AND WILLIS AT LOTON

Event 6 at Loton Park on 08/06/2014

Scott Moran and Trevor Willis swapped wins and second places at Loton Park, with Willis setting FTD in the opening Avon/TTC British Hillclimb run-off just two tenths quicker than his rival's afternoon pace. With their main challengers all having problems of one sort or another over the last couple of weeks, the 'Moran and Willis Show' seems to be on the move once again, with the two front runners now almost 30 points clear of the chasing pack. Will Hall is now the man on their tail, moving up into third place on the table after Alex Summers crashed out of the opening qualifying runs, fortunately without injury. The Force-Nissan V6 driver remained in that position, even after an off during afternoon qualifying sidelined him from the second run-off. After failing to add to his score, Summers is hoping that the hard-worked team at DJ Racecars can effect repairs alongside Wallace Menzies' Firestorm, damaged at Shelsley, so that both can return to Doune in a fortnight.

Jos Goodyear took over Summers' mantle with two determined third place finishes in the supercharged Raptor, the afternoon placing coming on the back of his second top qualifying shot of the season. It was a good day for the bio-ethanol fuelled Gould-Judd as with Hall out of the afternoon shoot-out, Deryk Young took over fourth place for his best finish of the year and wife Sue scored her first British point of the year in the car. Steve Owen did the same in the morning, but his bid for a repeat performance in the afternoon run-off was scuppered by a broken driveshaft on the exit from Keepers. It was once more left to Richard Spedding, with eighth and a strong sixth place, to uphold the honour of the normally aspirated bike-engined cars.

AVON TYRES/TTC GROUP MSA BRITISH HILLCLIMB CHAMPIONSHIP, LOTON PARK

FTD: Trevor Willis (3.2 OMS-Powertec 28) 44.56s

Championship run-off, round 11: 1 Willis 44.56s; 2 Scott Moran (3.5 Gould-NME GR61X) 44.99s; 3 Jos Godyear (1.6 GWR Raptor-Suzuki) 45.69s; 4 Will Hall (3.5 Force-Nissan WH) 45.97s; 5 John Bradburn (3.5 Gould-Cosworth HB GR55) 46.05s; 6 Roger Moran (3.5 Gould-NME GR61X) 46.54s; 7 Alastair Crawford (2.8 Gould-NME GR55C) 46.67s; 8 Richard Spedding (1.6 Force-Suzuki PC) 47.11s; 9 Deryk Young (4.0 Gould-Judd EV GR51B) 47.26s; 10 Steve Owen (1.6 OMS-Suzuki 28) 47.79s; Dave Uren (1.3t Force-Suzuki PC) DNF; Alex Summers (1.3s DJ Firehawk-Suzuki) DNF.

Championship run-off, round 12: 1 Scott Moran 44.74s; 2 Willis 44.81s; 3 Goodyear 45.22s; 4 Deryk Young 46.18s; 5 Bradburn 46.36s; 6 Spedding 46.81s; 7 Roger Moran 46.97s; 8 Tom New (4.0 Gould-Judd EV GR55) 47.10s; 9 Crawford 47.11s; 10 Sue Young (4.0 Gould-Judd EV GR51B) 49.14s; 11 Nev Rollason (1.3s OMS-Suzuki 28) 51.70s; Oliver Tomlin (4.0 Pilbeam-Judd MP97) DNF; Owen DNF.

British Championship positions after round 12: 1 Scott Moran 101pts; 2 Willis 94; 3 Hall 68; 4 Alex Summers 62; 5 Wallace Menzies 57; 6 Bradburn 53; etc.

Trevor Willis swapped wins with Scott Moran at Loton... (Zipp.co.uk)


...but Scott Moran still leads the Championship by seven points (Zipp.co.uk)

WILLIS AND MORAN SWAP THE LEAD

Event 5 at Shelsley Walsh on 01/06/2014

A large crowd at Shelsley Walsh Ion June 1st witnessed a spectacular day’s motor sport in the Teme Valley sunshine. After trailing by one point, Trevor Willis took over the British Hillclimb Championship lead from Scott Moran after winning the morning run-off in a time that would stand for FTD. But when Willis ground to a halt in the second shoot-out with a broken fuel pump wire, Moran regained the series lead with only with a second place finish. The immensely popular round winner was Tom New, whose somewhat indifferent season so far gained an immense boost as he took the fourth British run-off win of his career and his first at Shelsley. 

Once again Jos Goodyear was on devastating form with the GWR Raptor. Despite his Hayabusa motor spraying water from a suspected cylinder head leak, Goodyear demolished Alex Summers’ 2-litre record to qualify third for the morning run-off, going on to finish runner-up to Willis with an astonishing 141mph Ess approach speed, the fastest ever recorded at Shelsley. He repeated his Gurston feat of the previous weekend by qualifying top for the second stanza, but a marginal slackening of pace in a close-fought points battle left him third, a mere hundredth behind Moran. 

With a replacement engine installed in his DJ Firehawk after last weekend’s Gurston event. Alex Summers was a little off the pace with clutch problems. With eighth and sixth place finishes, he remained third on the table but only by a single point from Will Hall. The Force-Nissan driver, who had set the pace in practice the previous day, qualified top before lunch and converted that to third in the run-off. With fourth place later on, Hall’s move up to fourth on the Championship table came at the expense of Wallace Menzies. Unfortunately, a troubled weekend for the Scot ended in a massive accident on the run up to Bottom Ess. In a fine testament to the integrity of the DJ Firestorm’s carbon tub, Wallace emerged with only superficial injuries and bruising. On release from hospital early the following morning he was in good spirits, thanking his many well-wishers and the Midland AC organisers, marshals and medical team, saying that he felt as though he’d had a rough game of rugby and asking if he could have a refund! He hopes to be back in action again at Doune in three weeks time.

AVON TYRES/TTC GROUP MSA BRITISH HILLCLIMB CHAMPIONSHIP, SHELSLEY WALSH

FTD: Trevor Willis (3.2 OMS-Powertec 28) 23.11s

Championship run-off, round 9: 1 Willis 23.11s; 2 Jos Goodyear (1.3s GWR Raptor-Suzuki) 23.15s; 3 Will Hall (3.5 Force-Nissan WH) 23.27s; 4 Scott Moran (3.5 Gould-NME GR61X) 23.50s; 5 Wallace Menzies (3.3 DJ Firestorm-Cosworth XD) 23.94s; 6 Tom New (4.0 Gould-Judd EV GR55) 24.03s; 7 John Bradburn (3.5 Gould-Cosworth HB GR55) 24.53s; 8 Alex Summers (1.3s DJ Firehawk-Suzuki) 24.55s; 9 Roger Moran (3.5 Gould-NME GR61X) 24.80s; 10 Alastair Crawford (2.8 Gould-NME GR55C) 24.86s; 11 Richard Spedding (1.6 Force-Suzuki PC) 25.27s; Deryk Young (4.0 Gould-Judd EV GR51B) DNF.

Championship run-off, round 10:1 New 23.55s; 2 Scott Moran 23.64s; 3 Goodyear 23.65s; 4 Hall 23.86s; 5 Bradburn 24.02s; 6 Summers 24.07s; 7 Young 24.47s; 8 Roger Moran 24.48s; 9 Crawford 24.65s; 10 Dave Uren (1.3t Force-Suzuki PC) 25.16s; 11 Spedding 25.17s; Willis DNF.

British Championship positions after round 10: 1 Scott Moran 82pts; 2 Willis 75; 3 Summers 62; 4 Hall 61; 5 Menzies 57; 6 Roger Moran 42; etc.

Trevor Willis took a brief Championship lead - only to lose it with a fuel pump glitch (Zipp.co.uk)


Tom New took a popular fourth career victory (Zipp.co.uk)

MORAN BACK ON TOP

Event 4 at Gurston Down on 25/05/2014

In a dramatic day’s hillclimbing at Gurston Down on Bank Holiday Sunday, Wallace Menzies stormed the finish line at 159mph to take his first ever run-off win at the Wiltshire hill, championship leader Alex Summers slumped to third on the table following an engine blow-up, Jos Goodyear returned to the fray with a top run-off qualifying shot and a new 2-litre record, and Scott Moran set FTD and took over the lead in this year’s series. 

Summers’ bid to consolidate his series lead evaporated during the first class runs when his highly stressed supercharged Hayabusa unit dropped a valve on the run to the finish. The subsequent loss of two scoring rounds dropped him down the table, but with a spare engine available his DJ Firehawk should be back in the fray by next weekend’s Shelsley Walsh counter. Moments earlier, he’d seen Jos Goodyear demolish his 2-litre racing record by the best part of a second in a sensational first 2014 appearance that saw his now supercharged GWR Raptor-Suzuki in the top spot for the opening run-off. But in the shoot-out itself, a detached boost pipe ended his first bid for points prematurely. The problem was fixed for the afternoon runs, although Goodyear’s pace slackened for an eventual seventh place, despite the bike-powed car clocking the finish line speed trap at an astonishing 147mph. 

Now right back on the pace after a shaky start to the season, Menzies was delighted with his first ever Gurston win. He beat Scott Moran by just four hundredths, but the tables were turned in the second shoot-out by, amazingly, the same tiny margin. The spectacular DJ Firestorm’s 159mph passage over the line on consecutive run-offs, as well as being the fastest speed ever recorded on a British Championship hillclimb, was doubly appropriate as the finish had just been renamed ‘Stone’s’, in memory of Gurston stalwart Les Stone, in a ceremony the previous day. 

Well in touch with the leaders, Trevor Willis overcame his power deficit with a typically committed display to run third each time and maintain second place on the Championship table. But Moran, following the tyre and damper problems that had stemmed the Gould-NME’s progress at Harewood a fortnight earlier, was clearly back to his usual form. His deceptively unhurried style was, of course, anything but, and his winning pace in the second shoot-out, the only sub-26sec run of the weekend, showed that once again the defending champion is determined to join that elite group of only three drivers that have won more than four British Championship titles.

AVON TYRES/TTC GROUP MSA BRITISH HILLCLIMB CHAMPIONSHIP, GURSTON DOWN

FTD: Scott Moran (3.5 Gould-NME GR61X) 25.98s

Championship run-off, round 7: 1 Wallace Menzies (3.3 DJ Firestorm-Cosworth XD) 26.27s; 2 Scott Moran 26.31s; 3 Trevor Willis (3.2 OMS-Powertec 28) 26.38s; 4 Will Hall (3.5 Force-Nissan WH) 26.68s; 5 Tom New (4.0 Gould-Judd EV GR55) 26.78s; 6 Roger Moran (3.5 Gould-NME GR61X) 27.13s; 7 Alastair Crawford (2.8 Gould-NME GR55C) 27.20s; 8 John Bradburn (3.5 Gould-Cosworth HB GR55) 27.37s; 9 Dave Uren (1.3t Force-Suzuki PC) 27.95s; 10 Richard Spedding (1.6 Force-Suzuki PC) 28.72s; 11 Graham Wynn (1.4t Force-Hayabusa LM001) 28.90s; Jos Goodyear (1.3s GWR Raptor-Suzuki) retired.

Championship run-off, round 8: 1 Scott Moran 25.98s; 2 Menzies 26.02s; 3 Willis 26.36s; 4 New 26.61s; 5 Hall 26.66s; 6 Crawford 27.17s; 7 Goodyear 27.18s; 8 Bradburn 27.25s; 9 Roger Moran 27.28s; 10 Wynn 28.22s; 11 Uren 28.25s; 12 Spedding 28.61s.

British Championship positions after round 8: 1 Scott Moran 66pts; 2 Willis 65; 3 Alex Summers 54; 4 Menzies 51; 5 Hall 46; 6 Roger Moran 37; etc.

Wallace Menzies took his first ever Gurston win at phenomenal terminal pace (John Hayward)


Jos Goodyear returned to the fray with a new record and a top qualifying shot (John Hayward)

CLEAN SWEEP FOR WILLIS

Event 3 at Harewood on 11/05/2014

In a repeat performance of his double victory at Barbon, Trevor Willis went on to make it four wins in a weekend after two more at Harewood the following day. 

With another series of determined attacks, the 2012 champion continued to move up the series table and lay in second place, five points behind Alex Summers, by the time he left Harewood’s technically challenging climb at Stockton Farm on Sunday evening. Summers pushed hard, qualifying for the opening shoot-out by consigning Paul Haimes’ 2-litre record to the history books and going on to lower the time unofficially in successive run-offs, ending a second and a half inside the original mark. Even so, and with the Firehawk on the ragged edge through Farmhouse Bend’s tricky 180 sweeper, he was eased out of the runner-up spot each time, first with a typically smooth climb by Scott Moran and later with a spectacular ascent by Wallace Menzies in the V8 Firestorm, the Scot gaining momentum throughout the weekend to record his best result of the season so far.

Despite a problematic start in the opening shoot-out due to a temperature-associated electronic glitch, which left him seventh, Will Hall bounced back for fourth place later on to head home Scott and Roger Moran but Scott, after a somewhat uneven weekend in terms of results, had by now lost his second place on the table to Willis. As at Barbon, Richard Spedding was the fastest normally aspirated bike-engined car with a couple of eighth place finishes. 

With six of the 34 scheduled rounds in the bag, this year’s championship is developing into one of the most open for years, with several drivers now in the frame for top honours. But at the moment, it seems that Trevor Willis will be the man to beat as the ‘circus’ heads south for Gurston Down in a fortnight.

AVON TYRES/TTC GROUP MSA BRITISH HILLCLIMB CHAMPIONSHIP, HAREWOOD FTD: Trevor Willis (3.2 OMS-Powertec 28) 49.62s

Championship run-off, round 5: 1 Willis 49.62s; 2 Scott Moran (3.5 Gould-NME GR61X) 49.90s; 3 Alex Summers (1.3s DJ Firehawk-Suzuki) 50.46s; 4 Wallace Menzies (3.3 DJ Firestorm-Cosworth XD) 50.69s; 5 John Bradburn (3.5 Gould-Cosworth HB GR55) 51.36s; 6 Roger Moran (3.5 Gould-NME GR61X) 51.46s; 7 Will Hall (3.5 Force-Nissan WH) 51.62s; 8 Richard Spedding (1.6 Force-Suzuki PC) 52.30s; 9 Deryk Young (4.0 Gould-Judd EV GR51B) 52.32s; 10 Tom New (4.0 Gould-Judd EV GR55) 52.56s; 11 Alastair Crawford (2.8 Gould-NME GR55C) 53.53s; Oliver Tomlin (4.0 Pilbeam-Judd MP97) DNS.

Championship run-off, round 6: 1 Willis 50.10s; 2 Menzies 50.28s; 3 Summers 50.35s; 4 Hall 50.40s; 5 Scott Moran 50.44s; 6= Roger Moran and Bradburn 51.44s; 8 Spedding 51.51s; 9 Young 52.64s; 10 Tomlin 52.86s; 11= New and Crawford 53.16s.

British Championship positions after round 6: 1 Summers 54pts; 2 Willis 49; 3 Scott Moran 47; 4 Hall 33; 5 Menzies 32; 6 Roger Moran 30; etc.

With a second place at Harewood, Wallace Menzies is beginning to make his mark as a championship front-runner (Steve Wilkinson)


Will Hall is also in the frame and leads Menzies by a single point (Steve Wilkinson)

WILLIS’S BARBON DOUBLE

Event 2 at Barbon Manor on 10/05/2014

Trevor Willis and his now methanol fuelled OMS-Powertec 28 were in superb form at Barbon Manor’s short but fast Cumbrian power slopes, winning both British Hillclimb run-offs and climbing to within three tenths of the hill record for FTD on a track drying after heavy rain during morning practice. Equally spectacular, particularly through the fast and bumpy Richmond right-hander, was Championship leader Alex Summers. But his supercharged DJ Firehawk failed to match the winner by a tenth during the opening stanza. Almost threequarters of a second adrift of the unstoppable Willis in the final shoot-out, despite unofficially blitzing the 2-litre record, Summers’ run was matched by defending champ Scott Moran as both tied for second place ahead of Will Hall. Extensive reworking of his Nissan V6’s engine was a clear factor in enabling Hall’s howling, hard driven Force to bag a brace of fourth places. Like Willis and Wallace Menzies, whose sonorously percussive Firestorm-Cosworth ran third and fifth in successive run-offs, Hall was beginning to climb back up the Championship order after all three had missed a scoring round at Prescott’s season opener. 

Dave Uren ran a valiant sixth early on in his turbocharged Force-Suzuki, but a broken bolt in the car’s rear suspension led not only to a wild ride as he slowed after the finish line, but also to a damaged rear wheel sensor which stymied his bid for a qualifying place in the second shootout. Richard Spedding bagged seventh and tenth places in his normally aspirated version while Simon Fidoe, aboard his Empire Wraith with extensive aero work by F1 engineer (and former ace hillclimber) Willem Toet, did well to qualify the 1-litre bike engined machine each time on the second fastest hill in the Championship, despite failing to score.

AVON TYRES/TTC GROUP MSA BRITISH HILLCLIMB CHAMPIONSHIP, BARBON MANOR FTD: Trevor Willis (3.2 OMS-Powertec 28) 20.80s

Championship run-off, round 3: 1 Willis 21.86s; Alex Summers (1.3s DJ Firehawk-Suzuki) 21.96s; 3 Wallace Menzies (3.3 DJ Firestorm-Cosworth XD) 22.24s; 4 Will Hall (3.5 Force-Nissan WH) 22.40s; 5 Scott Moran (3.5 Gould-NME GR61X) 22.72s; 6 Dave Uren (1.3t Force-Suzuki PC) 23.17s; 7 Richard Spedding (1.6 Force-Suzuki PC) 23.76s; 8 John Bradburn (3.5 Gould-Cosworth HB GR55) 24.03s; 9 Roger Moran (3.5 Gould-NME GR61X) 24.26s; 10 Tom New (4.0 Gould-Judd EV GR55) 24.29s; 11 Alastair Crawford (2.8 Gould-NME GR55C) 24.41s; 12 Simon Fidoe (1.0 Empire Wraith-Suzuki) 26.20s.

Championship run-off, round 4: 1 Willis 20.80s; 2= Scott Moran and Summers 21.57s; 4 Hall 21.77s; 5 Menzies 21.99s; 6 Crawford 22.48s; 7 Roger Moran 22.60s; 8 New 23.13s; 9 Bradburn 23.31s; 10 Spedding 23.57s; 11 Graham Wynn (1.4t Force-Hayabusa LM001) 24.11s; 12 Fidoe 24.95s.

Trevor Willis exits Lafone Hairpin on his way to successive Barbon run-off wins (Eddie Walder)


Championship leader Alex Summers had to settle for the runner-up spot each time (Eddie Walder)

SUMMERS AGAIN AT PRESCOTT

Event 1 at Prescott on 27/04/2104

23-year-old Alex Summers carried on where he left off at the end of last season with a double win and FTD at Prescott’s opening Avon/TTC British Hillclimb round. Driving his supercharged, bike-engined DJ Firehawk he dominated an event held in less than ideal conditions to defeat first former champion Trevor Willis and then four times champion Scott Moran in successive run-offs. Will Hall’s Nissan-powered Force recovered from a broken starter, which had sidelined him from the opening bout, to chase home Moran in third place in the afternoon. A similar problem struck the potent, revised DJ Firestorm of last year’s number three Wallace Menzies, but a less than ideal recovery left the Scot down in ninth place in a dramatic afternoon run-off, which saw Trevor Willis fail to score after removing one of the OMS-Powertec’s rear wheels and the rear wing against the Esses barrier. As ever, Roger Moran was in the mix towards the front, two fourth places in the strikingly re-liveried Gould-NME backing up son Scott to leave them chasing Championship leader Summers on the series table.

         Alastair Crawford had one of his best weekends ever in the smaller engined Gould-NME, storming the Cotswold hill for two mid-field placings to leave him chasing Moran Sr in a series fifth ahead of the unfortunate Willis and John Bradburn, who ran eighth and fifth in the burly Gould-Cosworth HB. Dave Uren debuted his newly turbocharged Force-Suzuki with eighth place early on, just behind the normally aspirated version of Richard Spedding. Andy Dunbar and Rob Capper both made a run-off cut for the first time in their 1-litre Force single-seaters, as did five times Midland Champion Rob Stevens in his self-developed, supercharged sports libre version.

AVON TYRES/TTC GROUP MSA BRITISH HILLCLIMB CHAMPIONSHIP, PRESCOTT

FTD: Alex Summers (1.3s DJ Firehawk-Suzuki) 37.94s

Championship run-off, round 1: Summers 43.78s; 2 Trevor Willis (3.2 OMS-Powertec 28) 44.68s; 3 Scott Moran (3.5 Gould-NME GR61X) 45.62s; 4 Roger Moran (3.5 Gould-NME GR61X) 45.74s; 5 Alastair Crawford (2.8 Gould-NME GR55) 46.36s; 6 Richard Spedding (1.6 Force-Suzuki PC) 46.62s; 7 David Uren (1.3t Force-Suzuki PC) 46.78s; 8 John Bradburn (3.5 Gould-Cosworth GR55) 46.90s; 9 Andy Dunbar (1.0 Force-Suzuki PT) 47.35s; 10 Rob Capper (1.0 Force-Suzuki PT) 48.00s; Wallace Menzies (3.2 DJ Firestorm-Cosworth) DNS; Will Hall (3.5 Force-Nissan WH) DNS.

Championship run-off, round 2: 1 Summers 37.94s (BTD); 2 Scott Moran 38.21s; 3 Hall 38.40s; 4 Roger Moran 38.90s; 5 Bradburn 39.25s; 6 Crawford 39.67s; 7 Tom New (4.0 Gould-Judd GR55) 39.87s; 8 Spedding 39.90s; 9 Menzies 40.63s; 10 Oliver Tomlin (4.0 Pilbeam-Judd MP97) 40.78s; 11 Rob Stevens (1.4s Force-Suzuki SR4) 40.84s; Willis DNF.

Championship positions after round 2: 1 Summers 20pts; 2 Scott Moran 17; 3 Roger Moran 14; 4 Crawford 11; 5= Willis and Bradburn 9; etc.

Alex Summers set the pace at Prescott (Eddie Walder)


Scott Moran lies second on the Championship table in the re-liveried Gould-NME (Eddie Walder)