Reasons To Be Cheerful

Craigantlet on the outskirts of Belfast, Northern Ireland was the venue for rounds 23 and 24 of the MSA Avon Tyres/TTC Group British Hillclimb Championship on Saturday 2nd August.

Only two OMS cars were on the entry list: British contender Trevor Willis in his OMS 28 V8 and local driver Chris Houston in the OMS CF04 that he was share driving with his brother Russell Houston. Chris won class 14 with his best time of 50.09 seconds with Russell finishing in second position.

Following the previous British Championship rounds at Wiscombe Park hillclimb, Scott Moran had increased his points lead over second placed driver Trevor Willis, at the top of the championship table. Craigantlet favours powerful cars and in particular the powerful Nicholson McLaren engine in Scott's car, so this was going to be a tough meeting for Trevor to claw back some points.

That was until the rain gods smiled on Trevor; who is known for his outstanding performance in the wet. It rained and it rained, for most of the day in fact: perfect conditions for reducing a points advantage. In class 15 Trevor took a convincing class win, the only driver to run a 44 in the class runs and he was top qualifier in the second of the two British top 12 run offs.

Run off one saw Trevor finish first followed by Will Hall, Wallace Menzies, Alex Summers and then Scott Moran. In the second run off again Trevor took the win this time from Will, Wallace and Scott. Job done, seven points clawed back and a points differential of four when drop scores are included, as the championship moves to Shelsley Walsh on 9th and 10th August. Trevor has a total of eight wins whilst Scott has seven wins plus two extra points for twice breaking the outright hill record at Doune: it's all very close this season.

To view the results and photographs from the meeting click here.

To view the BHC points table click here or here.

Date: 4/08/2014 | Author: L.Owen