Are You Gonna Go My Way
At the weekend the Avon Tyres/ TTC Group MSA British Hillclimb Championship made its final visit of the 2013 season to Prescott Hill Climb in Gloucestershire. Following the previous two high speed venues of Shelsley Walsh and Gurston Down, Prescott is a hill that demands less in the power stakes and more from the driver/car combination in terms of handling and driving prowess.
This is the first meeting where championship drop scores come into play for the British contenders. So whilst Scott Moran has only a slim lead in the overall points table, Trevor Willis has a larger number of points to 'drop' in the final 6 counting rounds which will have a bigger impact on the outcome for him. As the outright hill record holder Trevor is a strong competitor at Prescott, but with vital Championship points at stake would the event go the way Trevor hoped?
Only one OMS car qualified for both run offs and that was the OMS 28 V8 of Trevor Willis. OMS constructor Steve Owen narrowly missed the cut for both Top 12 run offs by a few hundredths of a second in the new 1600cc OMS 28; twice ending up 13th man.
The morning run off saw Trevor out qualify Scott Moran, but both were out qualified by erstwhile OMS CF driver Alex Summers driving his supercharged 2 Ltr DJ race car. Scott took the win equalling Trevor's hill record time of 36.24 seconds; Alex finished 2nd on a 36.31 whilst Trevor only managed a 36.75 second run that put him in 3rd. A dragging clutch necessitated Trevor’s car being held on the line to prevent it creeping forward and unexpected front under steer seemed to lose Trevor time.
The afternoon run off saw Jos Goodyear top the qualifiers with Alex Summers, Trevor Willis and Scott Moran running behind him in that order. There were no difficulties for Trevor this time and in determined fashion he took the win on 36.29 seconds just outside his own outright hill record, from Alex, Scott and Jos. By winning Trevor also prevented Scott from establishing an unassailable championship lead and so the fight moves to the next rounds at Doune Hillclimb in Scotland.
Other OMS drivers had a good weekend too at the venue, with many setting personal best times in the ideal conditions over the weekend. OMS 2000M drivers Simon Andrews and Bernard Kevill set PB's of 40.41 and 42.45 respectively in their 1100cc car, with Simon taking 4th in the 1100cc racing car class.
In the class for racing cars up to 1600cc Harry Pick and Mark Goodyear share drove the 1300cc OMS Hornet, but gearbox problems resulted in loss of second gear. Despite this Harry finished on a 43.70 on his first Prescott event and Mark on 42.52 seconds. Pat Roche made his first Prescott appearance for some time with the OMS CF07. However a broken drive shaft in the second timed runs prevented him from improving on a 40.76 climb set during the morning session. British Championship competitor Lee Griffiths continued his good form this season with the OMS 25, running in the 39's on both timed runs and finishing on a best of 39.22 seconds taking 5th place in the class. On their first visit to Prescott with the new OMS 28 Lynn and Steve Owen improved their times throughout the meeting: Lynn finished on 41.80 and Steve matched his PB of 38.38 seconds finishing 3rd in class to Jos Goodyear and Richard Spedding.
Racing cars up to 2000cc saw Andy McBeath in the supercharged OMS 25 setting a PB of 40.12 seconds. Unfortunately the Ian Fidoe/ Tim Elmer OMS CF09 was side-lined due to an engine issue (having lost the oil at a previous meeting) and was a non-starter. In the unlimited racing car class Trevor Willis took the class win on 36.67 whilst also setting a new class record.
For detailed class times please click here and to see the British and Leaders Hillclimb Championship results click here.
Date: 2/09/2013 | Author: L.Owen