WILLIS AND MORAN SHARE THE HONOURS
Organiser: British Automobile Racing Club (South West) When: May 28/29 Starters: 149
Trevor Willis took his first win of the British Hillclimb season in the opening round at Gurston Down but in the second shoot-out, Scott Moran pushed to the front and now sits on 79 points after eight counting rounds. He is 17 points ahead of Willis, who is 23 in front of the pack, led by Wallace Menzies.
Despite a chain failure starting round seven David Uren continued his best-ever season and is third overall in the points after taking a pair of fourth places.
This position might soon be under threat because Menzies was back in action with a fresh engine after missing Harewood following his Craigantlet blow-up. He was third in each encounter, but the stand out performance was from Menzies’ wife Nicola, who shares with Uren.
Qualifying for the final run off, she finished ahead of more fancied opposition in eighth. Running first on the track, there was a cheer as her personal best-ever Gurston time came up on the digital display above the timekeepers box and her performance could not be bettered by the more experienced former run-off winners Eynon Price and Sean Gould in the works GR59.
Will Hall appeared to be on the way back to form having reverted to a conventional throttle cable after recent electronic gremlins in his fly-by-wire set-up with six points in round seven. But it all went wrong in Q2 as he hit the barriers at Ashes – the final left-hander – with some damage to the Force WH but fortunately no injury other than hurt pride.
Kelvin Broad got into his first ever British run-off with his recently acquired Pilbeam, the first product from the legendary chassis builders to be fitted with a motorcycle engine from new. Unfortunately, the pace proved too hot for him.
The Gurston specialist Ed Hollier again performed beyond expectation, hauling himself ahead of the absent Richard Spedding who was busy moving house.
Another renowned Gurston specialist, Nic Mann, in his extraordinary self-built Mannic would have qualified eighth fastest for round seven were he championship registered.
Jerseyman Jason Mourant is getting on the pace in his exTom New Gould-judd clocking personal best times on every run and concluding with his best ever day in the sport.
Brothers Peter and Simon Marsh – sons of legendary six-times Hillclimb champion Tony Marsh – both qualified their supercharged Firehawk for round seven. The engine went off song when Peter took to the hill and there was a repeat of the fault as Simon got down to Hollow bend.
The event featured the world hillclimbing debut of a hydrogen fuel cell electric car, the first Toyota Mirai in the UK, driven by Scottish motoring journalist David Finlay.
Results
Round seven: 1 Trevor Willis (3.2 OMS-RPE 28) 26.12s; 2 Scott Moran (3.5 Gould-nme GR61X) 26.19s, 3 Wallace Menzies (3.5 Gould-nme GR55) 26.50s; 4 Dave Uren (1.3t Force-suzuki PC) 26.54s; 5 Will Hall (2.0 Force-aer/ Xtec WH) 26.63s; 6 Jason Mourant (3.5 Gould-judd GR55) 27.84s; 7 Ed Hollier (1.6 Empire-suzuki 00 Evo) 28.41s; 8 Graham Wynn (3.5 Gould-cosworth GR55) 28.47s; 9 Sean Gould (1.6 Gould-suzuki GR59) 28.82s; 10 Paul Haimes (1.3t Gould-suzuki GR59) 28.87s; 11 Peter Marsh (1.3s Dj-suzuki Firehawk) 32.36s; 12 Simon Marsh (1.3s Dj-suzuki Firehawk) 37.80s.
Round eight: 1 Moran 26.10s BTD; 2 Willis 26.25s; 3 Menzies 26.73s; 4 Uren 27.05s; 5 Mourant 28.17s; 6 Hollier 28.62s; 7 Haimes 28.65s; 8 Nicola Menzies (1.3t Force-suzuki PC) 28.80s; 9= Eynon Price (1.6 GouldSuzuki GR59) and Wynn 29.02s; 11 Gould 29.40s; 12 Kelvin Broad (1.3s Pilbeam-suzuki MP101) 30.60s.
Class winners: James Gibson (1.0 OMS Hornet) 31.75s; David Finlay (Toyota Mirai) 44.44s; Peter Turnbull (3.6 Porsche 911 GT3) 34.42s; Paul Webster (2.0 Mazda MX-5) 38.21s; Simon Neve (2.3t Mitsubishi Lancer E6) 34.84s; David Warburton (2.5 Caterham-duratec) 32.85s; Andrew Russell (1.1 Ginetta G15) 38.30s; Colin Satchell (2.0 Peugeot 205) 33.36s; Simon Purcell (1.8s Lotus Exige) 34.07s; Mike Rudge (2.3 Westfield Sei) 31.32s; Jonathan Gates (1.3 Force-suzuki LM) 29.86s; Nic Mann (1.7t Mannic-beattie) 28.32s; Les Buck (0.6 OMS Hornet) 35.23s; Simon Fidoe (1.0 Empire-suzuki Wraith) 30.46s; Simon Mcbeath (1.6 Swift SC92 FF) 37.07s; Tim Davies (2.0 Pilbeam MP88 29.55s; Hollier 28.47s; Uren 26.80s; Willis 26.53s. Points after round 8/24: 1 Moran 79pts; 2 Willis 62; 3 Uren 39; 4 Menzies 33; 5 Hollier 30; 6 Richard Spedding 29.