No Doubt about it
There was a wide range of OMS cars on display this weekend at Gurston Down Hillclimb in Wiltshire. Fourteen OMS drivers competed at the venue as it hosted rounds 27 and 28 of the MSA Avon Tyres British Hillclimb & the MSA TTC Group Leaders Hillclimb Championships.
OMS Racing cars featured in 5 different classes at the meeting. The earliest model being a 1995 rocker arm single seater originally built for David Oldridge and now owned by Stephen Loadsman. Powered by a 1052cc Kawasaki ZZR engine the car completed the course in 34.53 seconds with Stephen finishing 3rd in class behind the 2.0ltr Ralt of ex OMS single seater drivers John Opie & John Burton. The Ralt built by Steve Owen for Duncan Pierce, was seen regularly in Duncan's hands at Harewood Hillclimb during the 1990's.
Euan & Callum Kemp made a welcome return to national hillclimbing at Gurston Down in their OMS P/R 1100cc single seater, this too is an ex David Oldridge car built in 1998 and they were joined in the 1100cc single seater class by national regulars Simon Andrews and Bernard Kevill. Simon finished 2nd in class on 30.74 seconds with Bernard, Callum & Euan being split by a mere 4/10ths of a second in this closely contested class.
The 1600cc single seater class was supported by four OMS 25 cars and a CF08. Channel Island regulars Sarah Gaudion and Charlie Smith made the journey across from Guernsey. Both had a good weekend & then after the meeting dashed to catch the return boat as they were driving at Les Val des Terres on the Monday. Gurston Down local James Blackmore was on good form finishing 5th overall in the class on 29.33 to secure points in the Leaders Championship. Lynn Owen & Lee Griffiths managed to set the exact same time in their second class runs with 30.82 seconds. Whilst Steve Owen dropped into the 29's with his morning run qualifying him for the Top 12 Run Off. Steve finished 6th in class just adrift of James on 29.47 seconds with Steve snatching the last Leaders class point.
Tim Elmer & Ian Fidoe in their CF09 finished 2nd & 4th in the 2.0ltr single seater class whilst Trevor Willis took 2nd in the unlimited single seater class.
Trevor qualified for both Top12 Run Offs despite a slight grassy moment on his second timed run. In the morning run off he finished 2nd to championship rival Scott Moran and in the afternoon he was 3rd behind Scott & Wallace Menzies. Trevor is still leading the British Hillclimb Championship table, but once drop scores come into play it will be very close for who secures the overall championship win.
Meeting results can be found here and MSA British & Leaders Championship tables here.
Date: 27/08/2012 | Author: L.Owen