Instant Replay
Or so it seemed looking at the results from this weekends Avon Tyres TTC Group MSA British and Leaders Hillclimb Championships meeting at Loton Park in Shropshire. The meeting was also a round of the TTC Group Midland Hillclimb Championship and BMTR Top ten Challenge.
Following on from the previous event at Shelsley Walsh the results sheets had a very similar look to them. 1100cc racing car duo Simon Andrews and Bernard Kevill finished 4th and 8th in class with times of 51.39 and 52.18 respectively. Simon could not seem match his practice time pace of 50.93 seconds in the timed runs, he struggled with down shifting at Fallow Bend and the change in track surface there following recent re-surfacing. Whilst Bernard’s' 52.18 second run was a personal best time for him at Loton Park.
Once again there was only one 600cc racing car at the meeting and it was driven by the now familiar Steve Owen Gary Hill combo. As usual the drivers gave their all, wringing out every last ounce of power from this standard Yamaha engine. Steve put in a flying time of 53.20 seconds in the morning timed runs that Gary didn't quite manage to equal, he finished 2nd to Steve on a time of 54.34 seconds.
Just two OMS cars competed in the 1600cc racing car class following John Stockley’s retirement from the meeting during practice with his OMS 2000M suffering engine problems. Mark Goodyear in the 1300cc OMS Hornet despite the power disadvantage still scored a fine 51.06 seconds placing him ahead of the more powerful Force PC of British Hillclimb competitor Nicola Menzies, but leaving him just outside a championship points scoring position in 7th place. Lee Griffiths in his OMS 25 put in some very consistent runs throughout the weekend with a best time of 48.69 seconds that placed him 5th in class.
As at Shelsley Walsh the Ian Fidoe/ Tim Elmer 2.0Ltr OMS CF09 was still side lined with engine problems and unable to compete in class K racing cars up to 2000cc.
The Hagley Members Loton Park Championship classes saw two OMS drivers leading the way on their timed runs. In class 1 Felix Summers; of the Summers hillclimbing dynasty, drove the family OMS 1100CF for only the second time at Loton Park (and the first time in dry conditions). His personal best time of 54.16 seconds looked like it would secure him a class win, but being a handicap class he just lost out with another driver snatching the 1st place from him.
Hagley Members Loton Park Championship Class 2 driver Paul Jarrett already holds the class record at 49.84 in the 1300cc ex Gordon Brehaut/ Neville Rollason OMS 2000M. Paul's best time of the day was 50.10 seconds leaving him shy of the record, but still the fastest time by any driver in the class.
Unlimited racing cars in class L resulted in Trevor Willis finishing in 2nd place on 45.07 with his OMS 28. Although incredibly quick around the twisting first half of the hill to the Triangle split, the Powertec V8 was outgunned on Cedar Straight by the hugely powerful Nicholson McLaren engine of the Scott Moran car, which took a class win.
Trevor qualified for both British Hillclimb Championship Top Twelve run offs, being the top qualifier in the afternoon shoot out. At the lunch break he discovered that his first gear was damaged, but despite having a number of new gears with him a first was not in the collection. Fortunately the gear held for the last two runs of the day, though the noise from the gear box was troubling.
In both run offs Shelsley Walsh runner up Trevor Willis reprised his role with 2 second places once again, consolidating his 2nd position in the British Hillclimb Championship points table.
Event results can be found here.
British Hillclimb Championship points table can be found here.
Date: 10/06/2013 | Author: L.Owen