The Speed Scene:
Speedscene Issue 155
Speedscene Issue 155 has been printed and is being despatched. However,
the ongoing situation in the Postal Service, both locally and
nationally, will unavoidably delay deliveries.
We are sorry for this inconvenience and are currently working hard to
ensure that the delivery of Issue 156, the Christmas issue, will be
sent out to arrive before the holiday period.
23/10/2009
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ROY LANE
In what has been a desperately sad week for hillclimbing, we are sorry to announce that Roy Lane has finally succumbed to the illness from which he had suffered for several years now. A true hillclimb legend, there is insufficient space here to do justice to Roy’s achievements in a British Hillclimb career that thrived for over three decades, but in sending condolences to his family, friends and fellow competitors, we are certain that the memory of this popular, dedicated and innovative engineer will survive as long as the sport he loved so much continues to flourish.
An in-depth tribute to Roy will be published in a future edition of Speedscene.
14/10/2009
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BOB DAYSON
We are sorry to report that Bob Dayson finally lost his battle with cancer in the early hours of this morning. The ever jovial arch-enthusiast for motorsport, particularly hillclimbing and sporting trials, will long be remembered for his light-hearted but always competitive approach to the sport to which he contributed so much, in so many ways. The HSA would like to offer sincere condolences to Bob’s family and countless friends. One of hillclimbing’s true characters, he will be much missed.
A full appreciation will follow in a future issue of Speedscene
12/10/2009
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HENSON’S WIN – GALLAGHER’S TITLE
As the only sub-30sec runner of the day, Andrew Henson set the outright pace at Curborough’s Richard Egger HSA Speed Championship finale in his Ralt-Rover, edging out first run spinner Jim Yardley. A sudden rain shower caught out the veteran Beagle-Honda driver midway through the first runs and put pressure on many of the single seater drivers, including Brian Ball. The 600cc Force-Yamaha driver also spun on his first run and although he recovered later, he failed to catch class winner Robert Way’s Jedi and, crucially, Championship second place man Simon Andrews, who had led Ball by a single point going into the last round. As Andrews and Steve Filkin swapped records in a duel for class C2 honours, the MG Cup TF driver scored a narrow win over Filkin’s Elise to confirm his Championship runner-up placing ahead of Ball.
John Gallagher (pictured earlier this year at Harewood) was also on class-winning record form in his Mazda MX5, confirming the 2009 Richard Egger HSA title that he’d already secured by the preceding round at Shelsley.
After a fine opening shot by Peter Kukainis in his Westfield-Duratec had got right in amongst the single seaters to secure third FTD, Elden FF driver Mike Broome won one of the closest fought Alan Payne Trophy class winners’ run-offs ever seen with the top three; Broome, Ben Hamer’s Mini Turbo and Clive Wooster’s Radical, covered by just seven hundredths of a second on corrected times.
Full report in Speedscene 156.
Provisional final championship positions: 1 John Gallagher (1.8 Mazda MX5); 2 Simon Andrews (1.8 MG TF); 3 Brian Ball (0.6 Force-Yamaha); 4 Steve Filkin (1.8 Lotus Elise); 5 Geoff Kershaw (2.9 Ford Sierra); etc.
11/10/2009
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AMBITION FULFILLED
‘I’ve always wanted to win here,’ said Trevor Willis after taking FTD at the daunting Carse of Cambus hillclimb at Doune. With it came victory by two hundredths of a second over British champion Scott Moran in the final MCL Motorhomes British Hillclimb run-off of the year. Despite gearshift problems demanding second gear starts, Scott and father Roger opened the day’s run-off action with another family one/two after Willis had skated straight on at the notorious East Brae in qualifying. But later in the day, backed up in the OMS-Powertec by constructor Steve Owen (in the points on his first outing in the car), Willis scored his sixth win of the year – and the tenth of his career – to underline his status as 2009 championship runner-up.
With a blinding sub-record shot in the second run-off, four-times Scottish champion Jonathan Rarity chased home the two leaders to head Moran Sr, but not before he’d seen his 1600 racing class record officially broken by the flying Will Hall. With top six finishes each time, Hall finished the year in a fine eighth place on the British series table, but even a class win at record pace was not enough to prevent rival Paul Haimes winning the Hillclimb Leaders Championship for the second time. A class win for Haimes – who also steered the Dallara to a 2009 best third place in the opening shoot-out – was enough to do the trick for the F1 Racing Fuel series’ title.
With Eynon Price also in the points each time and finishing tenth overall on the British table, 1600cc cars figured well in both run-offs. Lee Adams made a great British Championship debut in the new Graeme Wight Jr built GWR Raptor-Hayabusa (pictured), opening his account straight away with sixth place in the opening run-off before an oil leak stemmed the superb new machine’s progress.
Final British Championship positions: 1 Scott Moran 246pts; 2 Trevor Willis 219; 3 Roger Moran 202; 4 Martin Groves 184; 5 Chris Merrick 134; 6 Paul Ranson 113; 7 Tom New 87; 8 Will Hall 83; 9 Deryk Young 80; 10 Eynon Price 75; 11 Paul Haimes 66; 12 Rob Turnbull 45; etc.
27/09/2009
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TWO MORE FOR TREVOR
Trevor Willis (pictured) clocked up his fifth win of the year with two successive British run-off victories at Prescott on Sunday. With 2009 champion elect Scott Moran failing to score following a series of gear selection problems, his closest challenger on the Championship table was uncatchable, setting two identical run-off times for FTD.
After an uncharacteristic spin at SemiCircle during the opening run-off, Roger Moran bounced back to chase Willis home in the second shoot-out with a second gear start, the paddle-shift change from first to second having already blunted son Scott’s earlier challenge. Rob Turnbull continued his late season form with second and third places chased first by Deryk Young and then Will Hall. The expected battle raged between Hall and Eynon Price in their Force-Hayabusas, with each bagging successive fourth places after Price had qualified in the afternoon with a new 1600 class record – which was promptly (although unofficially) lowered by Hall during the second shoot-out! In another superb performance in the ‘budget’ 1000cc Martlet-Suzuki, Adam Steel qualified for the opening run-off by demolishing Adam Fleetwood’s long-standing 1100 class record, however a paddle-shift fumble kept him down the order with points at stake.
British Championship positions after Prescott: 1 Scott Moran 230pts; 2 Trevor Willis 214; 3 Roger Moran 194; 4 Martin Groves 184; 5 Chris Merrick 134; 6 Paul Ranson 113; 7 Tom New 87; 8 Deryk Young 80; 9 Will Hall 72; 10 Eynon Price 71; etc.
06/09/2009
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TWO IN A ROW FOR SCOTT
Scott Moran (pictured) secured his second consecutive British Hillclimb Championship title at Gurston Down on August Bank Holiday Sunday.
But on a day when wet weather turned the form book on its ear, neither series leader Moran nor his closest rival, Trevor Willis, qualified for the opening run-off, when a delighted Rob Turnbull took his first British win for over six years ahead of the consistently rapid Roger Moran. Peter Marsh took a superb third place in the V6 Gould on his first ever British run-off appearance, while James Blackmore’s bike-engined OMS, 2-litre class winner Chris Guille and new 1600 racing class record-holder Will Hall rounded out an eclectic top six.
Following a spin during qualifying for the opening run-off, Willis finally came good with a magnificent drive in the closing shoot-out to take his third win of the year in the OMS-Powertec by over a second. Once again the ultra-dependable Roger Moran grabbed second place, leapfrogging the absent Martin Groves to move into third place on the series table. But by that stage, he knew that son Scott needed only a mid-field finish to be sure of a second British title. He was already assured of that by the time Roger took the penultimate run and despite a one/two by Willis and Moran Sr, Scott’s sixth place at the end was enough to clinch a well-deserved second British title.
British Championship positions after Gurston Down: 1 Scott Moran 230pts; 2 Trevor Willis 194; 3 Roger Moran 188; 4 Martin Groves 184; 5 Chris Merrick 134; 6 Paul Ranson 113; 7 Tom New 87; 8 Deryk Young 66; 9 Will Hall 65; 10 Eynon Price 62; etc.
30/08/2009
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MORANS’ CLEAN SWEEP
Scott Moran (pictured) took a step nearer an almost inevitable second successive British title after taking both run-off wins at Shelsley Walsh. The result moved his 2009 win tally to 13 and his points lead to 41 with just six rounds to go. In a clean sweep for the Moran family, his father Roger finished second each time ahead of an on-the-limit Trevor Willis and Shelsley expert Deryk Young. With his two third places, Willis leveled his Championship score with the absent Martin Groves, who had already announced his withdrawal from the series.
In what has been something of a ‘comeback year’, Moran Sr looks set to overhaul Groves on the Championship table as increases his lead over Chris Merrick. Summer sunshine brought big crowds to Shelsley, most of whom were rooting for Merrick to score his first ever British win after he’d qualified top for the opening run-off. But as co-driver Tom New neared the finish line on his opening run-off shot, the Gould’s Judd unit went off-song. New finished a strong fifth, but a broken valve spring sidelined the car before Merrick had a chance to run.
Driving his Pilbeam-Judd, Oliver Tomlin enjoyed his finest British Championship day so far with sixth and later fifth place, while the impressive Simon Marsh made the cut each time aboard his late father Tony’s Gould V6, getting his first ever British points on the board with ninth place in the afternoon.
British Championship positions after Shelsley Walsh: 1 Scott Moran 225pts; 2= Martin Groves and Trevor Willis 184; 4 Roger Moran 170; 5 Chris Merrick 134; 6 Paul Ranson 113; 7 Tom New 87; 8 Deryk Young 63; 9 Eynon Price 62; 10 Will Hall 53; etc.
16/08/2009
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FINTRAY HILL RECORD FALLS AFTER 20 YEARS
Stewart Robb Jr finally broke Roy Lane’s long standing 25.72 hill record at Grampian MC’s short, 725 yard hill at Fintray, near Aberdeen, last Saturday. Lane’s old hill standard was set at 1989’s British Championship meeting in his Pilbeam-DFL MP58. Robb’s father, Stewart Sr, was first inside the record – by a mere hundredth – aboard their 4-litre Pilbeam-Judd MP88. But on a day when nine class records were reset, his son applied the coupe de gras on the very last run of the day with a 25.28.
The traditional large sign at Ruin, which displays the current hill record and its holder, was updated and in place by the start of practice for Sunday’s event!
12/08/2009
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WILLIS STARS, BUT MORAN EXTENDS HIS LEAD AS GROVES NON-STARTS IN ULSTER
In a day-long duel with Scott Moran, Trevor Willis won his second British round in as many weekends with a superb closing run-off shot at Northern Ireland’s historic Craigantlet hillclimb. Despite Willis's considerable horsepower disadvantage on the upper reaches of the fast Ulster road course, devastating pace on the tighter early section gave him the win from Moran as closed to within four hundredths of Scott’s FTD.
On a day punctuated by brief spells of intermittent drizzle, Moran set the outright pace in winning the opening shoot-out from Willis. Martin Groves never entered the equation as for the second successive year at Craigantlet his Gould was sidelined during practice, this time with engine problems. With Groves out, Moran stretched his championship lead to a healthy 21 points.
Chasing Roger Moran home each time, two fourth place finishes marked Tom New’s best result of the year. His co-driver Chris Merrick spun out of the opening qualifying runs – which with just 13 potential runners let in Peter Herbert for his first British run-off appearance in the Westfield-BDH – but recovered to finish sixth in the second stanza behind the flying Will Hall. And after two mid-field placings as he swapped run-off honours with sparring partner Eynon Price, Hall eased the absent Paul Haimes off the number ten spot on the championship table.
Championship standings after Craigantlet: 1 Scott Moran 205pts; 2 Martin Groves 184; 3 Trevor Willis 168; 4 Roger Moran 152; 5 Chris Merrick 134; 6 Paul Ranson 113; 7 Tom New 81; 8 Eynon Price 62; 9 Deryk Young 49; 10 Will Hall 47; etc.
01/08/2009
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