RACING REPORTS

BRITISH HILLCLIMB CHAMPIONSHIP: GURSTON DOWN BY PAUL LAWRENCE MAY 29-30

RAPID WALLACE MENZIES STRIKES THREE OUT OF FOUR

Reigning champion Wallace Menzies was the big scorer at Gurston Down last weekend as a double header for the British Hillclimb Championship offered up four top-12 run-offs.

Ultimately, Menzies won three of them in his Gould GR59M to add to his double win from the opening weekend of the season at Loton Park and make it five from six. Meanwhile, it was a bittersweet weekend for Will Hall who took the other run-off victory with a storming run on Saturday, edging Alex Summers by 0.02 seconds as the temperature dipped late in the day and the hill lost a couple of tenths.

Sadly, Hall then crashed heavily 24 hours later in Sunday’s second run off. Hall went off through the finish and his Force flipped before coming to a rest and thankfully Hall was unharmed.

The accident put a dampener on Menzies’triple victory. “We’re rivals but we’re mates as well,” said the Scot who added a new outright hill record to his impressive tally with a charging 25.34s in the first of Sunday’s run offs to shave three-hundredths of a second from Scott Moran’s seven-year-old mark.

This was a weekend that was always going to be decided by fractions of a second at the high speed Wiltshire hill and when conditions were at their peak early on Sunday afternoon Summers was just a tenth away from Menzies’new record.

“It’s a great start to the season, but there’s a long way to go,” said Menzies as Summers and Sean Gould both scored strongly across all four run offs. Moran was up there too, but missed the final run off after his Gould refused to start for the second qualifying class runs.

Trevor Willis was in the top six four times but didn’t quite have the last half second needed to challenge for victory. Sadly, Dave Uren and Richard Spedding never got on to the pitch, both struggling with engine problems that kept them out of action. There’s little time to draw breath for the main contenders as the season continues this weekend at Shelsley Walsh with another two run offs.

Results

 Round 3: 1 Wallace Menzies (3300cc Gould GR59M-Cosworth) 25.55s; 2 Alex Summers (2650cc DJ Firestorm-Cosworth) 25.88s; 3 Will Hall (2000t Force-Xtec) 25.97s; 4 Sean Gould (4000cc Gould GR59JB-Judd) 26.05s; 5 Trevor Willis (3200cc OMS 28-RTE) 26.60s; 6 Scott Moran (4000cc Gould GR59J-Judd) 26.67s.

Round 4: 1 Hall 26.00s; 2 Summers 26.02s; 3 Menzies 26.20; 4 Moran 26.48; 5 Gould 26.58s; 6 Willis 26.79s.

1 Menzies 25.34s; 2