She's Got It
The MSA British Hillclimb Championship circus travelled from Jersey to Guernsey for rounds 19 and 20 of the championship. As they arrived in St Peter Port so did the summer for local residents who have had poor weather so far this season. The island was bathed in sunshine all weekend and temperatures soared to 26 degrees as drivers fiercely competed to secure one of the coveted 12 run off places.
Local drivers enjoy getting into the mix and upsetting the form book. Always expect the unexpected at the overseas rounds of the championship.
OMS drivers Geoff and Chris Guille always go well at Le Val Des Terres their local event, in the ex-Trevor Willis 2 ltr OMS CF04. Chris won a round of the British Championship here in Guernsey a few years ago, his first ever outright win. The pairing traded class positions with Darren Warwick with both Chris and Darren qualifying for the run offs.
Ricky Le Cheminant another of the Guille clan, driving the OMS P/R 1100 he shares with wife Jackie (Guille) set a personal best time in the morning class runs that qualified him for the first run off, his best result at a national meeting. Unfortunately brother in-law Chris Guille bumped Ricky out of a points scoring position by 17/100ths of a second. Well done Ricky, a great performance.
Sports car driver Mark Le Cras in the 1000cc OMS SC1 took the Sports Libre class win.
Trevor Willis had mixed success qualifying well for both run offs but only managing 5th and 4th in the final placings, he had hoped to add more points than this to his championship total.
Neville Rollason seemed to lose his mojo following the Jersey incidents for him & co-driver Craig Bates. He set a good time in the morning runs but slipped back in the afternoon. Fellow OMS 25 1600cc drivers Charlie & Justin Smith also had a mixed meeting. Practice went well for Justin and then he caught the banking with the front wing in the first class runs failing to finish. Charlie struggled with the gear change on his first run, Steve Owen resolved the problem with the quickshifter and he leapt into the 31 second bracket ahead of Justin.
Sarah Gaudion shared her 1600cc OMS CF08 with constructor & previous owner of the car Steve Owen. Having settled into the car this season with the fully tuned 1600cc Hayabusa engine, she used it to full advantage setting a new Ladies Hill Record in the morning class runs with a time of 31.50 seconds. Her time put her in the mix with other class front runners Dave Uren, Steve Owen, Nev Rollason and Toby Neilson driving his OMS P/R. With the pressure off she relaxed for her afternoon run and went even quicker, resetting her record at 31.39 seconds a full half a second inside the record at the start of the meeting.
Congratulations Sarah, a fine drive.
Gordon Brehaut preparing Sarah Gaudion's car. British Hillclimb Championship Co-Ordinator
Tim Wilson.
Chris Guille getting ready for his run.
A thoughtful Trevor Willis.
Sarah Gaudion at Bouley Bay in her OMS CF08
Date: 27/07/2012 | Author: L.Owen