Look Wot You Dun

Loton Park Hill Climb in Shropshire hosted the third round of the 2013 TTC Midland Hillclimb Championship at the weekend.

Following an excursion into the Recticel barriers at Shelsley Walsh earlier in the month for Simon Andrews, he and his co-driver Bernard Kevill were once again aboard their 1100cc OMS 2000M, following a full factory rebuild. Bernard’s' fastest time over the weekend was set in practice 52.68 seconds, his first timed run of the event included what must have been a 'moment' judging by the time and on the second timed run he was red flagged, the re-run was slower than Bernard's practice time at 53.69 seconds. Simon was in the 51 second zone for most of the weekend, with him setting a best time of 51.02 seconds during the afternoon timed runs: he was nudged out of 3rd overall in class by a mere 1/100th of a second to take 4th in class. However his time was quick enough to qualify him for the second of the Avon BMTR Top Ten Challenge run offs.

Richard & Lindsey Summers were once again competing in the dependable OMS CF97 whilst their Force is sidelined. Richard's time of 53.29 seconds bagged him 6th place in class and a Midland championship class point. Despite her age, the OMS CF97 continues to deliver against more modern machinery.

Class J racing cars up to 1600cc was dominated by Lee Griffiths in his OMS 25. He ran sub 50 second times throughout Sunday's competition to take the class win on 49.03 seconds. He also qualified for both of the Top ten run offs, finishing equal 6th in Run Off 1 and 7th in Run Off 2. Fellow OMS pilot Mark Goodyear in his 1300cc Hornet had a problem with the clutch slipping all weekend. Despite this he managed some very respectable class times, finishing 2nd in class to Lee on 52.02 seconds. Mark also qualified for the second Top Ten run off and set a time of 51.49 second, his best time of the weekend, but unfortunately he just missed out on a points scoring place.

Last but not least, the final OMS driver at the meeting was Trevor Willis. As is expected of the British Hillclimb Champion, Trevor's was the dominant performance of the weekend. Fastest throughout practice and top qualifier in each of the run offs; Trevor won the unlimited capacity racing car class on a 46.28 second first timed run and then went on to win both Avon BMTR Top Ten Challenge run offs with 45.46 seconds in Run Off 1 and 45.31 in Run Off 2. Trevor also took Fastest Time of Day.

Date: 20/05/2013 | Author: L.Owen