The Rabeys Commercial Vehicles National Hillclimb welcomed the Nicholson McLaren MSA British Hillclimb Championship once again to the shores or Jersey for rounds 17 and 18 of this hotly contested championship last month on Thursday 17th July.
The morning practice runs were held in seasonal sunshine as competitors got used to the twisty hill which has the greatest elevation change of any of the British Hillclimb Championship rounds.
Defending British Champion and former hill record holder Martin Groves set the initial pace with a 40.52 with his other 2 main rivals only managing 41 second runs. But it was only practice and the 2 important qualifying rounds where to be held after the lunch break in slightly cooler conditions which meant that the chance of any records being broken looked unrealistic.
Fastest in the 1st qualifying round was the current championship leader Scott Moran with a time of 39.48. Having come close in the past, he is on form this year having built up a healthy lead in the championship. Rob Turnbull qualified 2nd and Martin Groves 3rd both in Gould racing cars.
Fastest 4 qualifiers included the big 3 of Scott Moran, Trevor Willis and Martin Groves and where joined by Chris Merrick who was tipped to possibly take a victory back home with him to the U.K.
One record did get broken with a large margin. Gary Hotton who recently gained the crown of fastest man on two wheels at the five mile road sprints took another record to add to his collection. He lowered the unlimited motorbike class record from a 48.83 set by Guernsey competitor Peter Davies in 1999 to a 46.46 on his last official run of the day.
The next local Hillclimb will be held at Bouley Bay which is the Bank Holiday Monday Hillclimb on the 25th August which will see another large entry.
The JMC & LCC would like to thank all Officials, Marshals, St Johns Ambulance, Normandy Rescue, Sponsors Rabeys Commercial Vehicles, residents and businesses at Bouley Bay.
