BRITISH HILLCLIMB CHAMPIONSHIP MORAN AND WILLIS SHARE HONOURS British Hillclimb Championship: Loton Park
Organiser: Hagley and Light Car Club When: September 23/24 Where: Loton Park, near Shrewsbury Starters: 164 Scott Moran returned for one last blast at Loton Park where he is the outright record holder.
He dominated qualifying for each round and, in the opening round, he sped to a win by a margin of half a second over 2017 champion-elect Trevor Willis. But later in the last run of the season, Moran spun out at Loggerheads and the sound of tortured Hillclimb slicks was followed by silence as the engine cut. Willis took that win and had finished second to Moran earlier.
With Jason Mourant spinning out earlier in the second encounter, the final overall positions to be settled on the day remained where they were at the start of the event with Mourant wearing the number five next year and Moran six. Moran said: “I was just trying that bit too hard.” He also confirmed he will be doing the same programme in 2018: about half of the British Championship rounds
Expectations had been high that Wallace Menzies might take a third win in succession, but that was not to be as he spun onto the grass at Fletcher’s Dellow in Q1. Confirmed in third place overall, Richard Spedding almost cruised to fourth then third. Will Hall scored in the opener but the car went seriously off-song in Q2.
Sensation of the day was Robert Kenrick in the GWR Raptor with BMW Superbike engine. He finished in fifth and fourth after registering for the championship just before Prescott. If he returns in 2018, he could earn an number for the 1100cc class car for the first time since the early 1970s.
A number of confirmed top-10 finishers were absent from the action but not through choice. Alex Summers (seventh) was present but still injured. Sean Gould (eighth) suffered an engine failure on the dyno trying to fix his car after difficulties. Dave Uren (ninth) was present but his engine damaged in his Guernsey shunt is in rebuild. Ed Hollier (10th) is awaiting a new chassis. Results Round 33: 1 Scott Moran (3.5 Gould-nme GR61X) 43.60s BTD; 2 Trevor Willis (3.2 OMS-RPE 28) 44.10s; 3 Jason Mourant (3.5 Gould-judd GR55) 44.69s; 4 Richard Spedding (1.6 Gwr-suzuki Raptor) 45.19s; 5 Robert Kenrick (1.0 GWRBMW Raptor) 45.85s; 6 Paul Haimes (1.3s Gould-suzuki GR59) 46.02s; 7 Will Hall (2.0 Force-aer/ Xtec WH) 46.21s; 8 Oliver Tomlin (4.0 Pilbeam-judd MP97) 46.64s; 9 Steve Owen (1.0 Oms-suzuki 28) 47.06s; 10 Kelvin Broad (1.3s Pilbeam-suzuki MP101) 48.20s; 11 Tony Hunt (3.5 Gould-cosworth GR55) 49.11s; 12 Graham Wynn (3.5 Gould-cosworth GR55) 49.15s. Round 34: 1 Willis 44.16s; 2 Wallace Menzies (3.3 GouldCosworth GR59M) 44.65s; 3 Spedding 44.92s; 4 Kenrick 45.36s; 5 Haimes 45.68s; 6 Tomlin 46.49s; 7 Owen 47.76s; 8 Terry Graves (3.5 Gould-cosworth GR55) 48.37s; 9 Harry Pick (1.0 Oms-suzuki 2000V) 48.45s 10 Wynn 53.27s; DNF Mourant and Moran. Final points: 1 Willis 232; 2 Menzies 205; 3 Spedding 184; 4 Hall 166; 5 Mourant 139; 6 Moran 132.