Harewood July British Championship Hillclimb

Following the previous day's unseasonal weather, Sunday dawned bright and dry for the MSA British Hillclimb and Hillclimb Leaders Championship rounds at Harewood.

Fourteen drivers were again set to contest the 1100cc racing car class. Wil Ker and Ben Hamer thought they had resolved the problem they experienced at Barbon the previous day. Though it transpired that the problem could be traced back to Doune a few weekends previously and it seems the plenum on their turbo charged OMS CFO9 had split and this was the causing of their difficulties. So as at Barbon, the pair retired from the event after first practice.

Simon Andrews had another good day finishing third in class on a personal best time of 54.95s, with the 1000cc Suzuki K8 powered OMS 28.

Steve Owen (OMS 28 BMW) struggled to get on the pace all day and his fastest climb 55.13s was only good enough for fifth place overall in the class. Harry Pick maximised the improved track conditions, setting a new personal best time of 55.54 seconds and finished sixth overall in class.

Terry and Tricia Davis put the gearbox gremlins of the previous day behind them, finishing second 55.44s and fourth 58.66s respectively in the normally aspirated 2 litre racing car class. These were personal best times for both drivers in this car.

In the forced induction racing car class, Lee Griffiths used the meeting to test new settings for the car and power unit. He was pleased with the overall performance of his OMS 25 1300t and climbed in 54.17s in the afternoon to finish third overall in the class. His morning climb qualified Lee for the British Hillclimb Championship round 17 run off. Lee set his fastest time of the day 53.68s and scored a further BHC point, moving him into equal 20th in the points table.

On a roll from his BHC round win the previous day, Trevor Willis qualified for each of the two run off rounds at Harewood. In round 17 he threw the gauntlet down with a 49.25s climb. The final three runners were unable to beat this time and Trevor took another round win, bringing his tally this season to five wins.

In round 18 Scott Moran was on hill record breaking form, shaving one hundredth from his own outright hill record to take the run off win with a time of 48.80s. A fabulous climb from Richard Spedding (49.58s) running with only a 1600cc power unit took second place and Trevor finished third overall with his run time 49.95 seconds. These were the only drivers in this run off to set a sub fifty second time.

To view the final results click here and to view British Hillclimb and Hillclimb Leaders Championship tables click here.

Date: 4/07/2016 | Author: L.Owen