Menzies maxes out in Shelsley thriller

Photo Credit: Paul Lawrence

This was an event that could not have been better scripted, as the British Hillclimb Championship headed back to Shelsley Walsh for rounds 21 and 22 of the 26-round season.

The three title contenders, Wallace Menzies, Will Hall and Matthew Ryder, were all at the very top of their game and Hall's nine-week-old outright record took a battering with a total of six runs under the old mark. However, the best was saved to last when, on the final run of the weekend, Menzies sealed his second run-off victory and a new hill record with a sensational climb of 22.20s. This was a fine weekend for the sport of hillclimbing.

The indications that this was going to be another record-breaking weekend came in Saturday's practice runs, when the three title contenders all dipped into the 22-second bracket. It was clear that Hall's nine-week-old outright hill record of 22.33s was going to come under attack.

Sure enough, come Sunday and the first of the class runs, Ryder put a real marker down by flying up the hill in 22.29s. Hall and Menzies were in the mid 22s bracket and that was even before the first of the run-offs.

With a raft of new rubber waiting to go on to the leading cars, the start of the first runoff was delayed after Stephen Darley, running as penultimate car in the Tin Top run-off clattered the barriers on the approach to Bottom Ess in his Subaru Impreza. With barrier damage to fix, the lunch break was brought forward and the first run-off was pushed back an hour.

Anyone who thought the drama of the first run-off could not be surpassed was to be proved dramatically wrong. The sun was dropping in the sky by the time the cars were lined up for the second top 12 run-off and it was Ryder who was the first to put down a significant marker with a 22.64s climb.

It was good, but Matthew admitted that he'd run wide at Crossing and kissed the bank in the process, to the extent that the marshals had to go and sweep before the next run could start.

Summers and Uren were well in the mix and David Warburton was mighty as he dipped below the 24-second mark, having previously set a new class record in the class runs.

It all came down to the final two climbs of the weekend for Hall and Menzies. Hall blasted up the hill and stopped the clock at 22.28s to once again run beneath his previous hill record. “I thought I might have done enough,” said Hall, but he was proved wrong.

Menzies came to the line with the rear tyres wreathed in blue smoke as he lit them up in the warm-up area. He attacked ferociously, and when the clock stopped at 22.20s, the paddock burst into spontaneous applause. Once again, it was the fastest climb ever made of Shelsley Walsh and trimmed seven hundredths off the record that he and Hall had shared for just over three hours.

“I saw what Will had done,” said Menzies. “So I knew it had to be full send!” It really was full send and marked another day of epic hillclimbing at Shelsley Walsh. Hall’s nine-week-old record, which had stood at 22.33s at the start of the weekend, had taken a battering. Six runs were under the record, and the mark will now go into the winter months in Menzies’ hands at 22.20s.

Further down the top 10 drivers like Dave Uren, Alex Summers and Trevor Willis all had good days, but ultimately, this was a day for Menzies and could yet prove to be a critical moment in this year's title race.