With six run-off victories on the bounce and two new hill records, Matthew Ryder is starting to take an advantage at the head of the British Hillclimb Championship.
Prescott delivered two more maximum scores, plus an important bonus point for a new hill record for Ryder in his Gould GR59 and has edged him ahead of Alex Summers once dropped scores are factored in.
Right from the start of practice Ryder was in fine form, fresh from a double win at Shelsley Walsh a week earlier. He converted that in style in the opening run-off with a 34.60s climb to shave five hundredths of a second off the outright record set by Wallace Menzies in 2021. Indeed, it was Menzies who led the chase with a 35.11s with his Gould GR59.
Alex Summers, at a hill that just doesn't suit the DJ Firestorm as well as the Goulds, worked hard for third with 35.26s and was chased hard by Will Hall in his Gould.
Later, Ryder did it again, but this time it was closer. Having qualified fastest, Ryder ran last and watched Hall post a strong 35.04s to edge Menzies by less than a tenth of a second. The pressure was on Ryder, but he did what he needed to do and his 34.89s climb sealed his sixth run-off win on the trot.
Summers was edged back to fourth, meaning that his weekend scores are likely to be among his dropped scores in the final reckoning. Trevor Willis, Sean Gould and Dave Uren all packed out the middle order of the top 10, while Paul Haimes took credit as the best of the smaller engined cars with a brace of eighth places and young Alex Coles gave another virtuoso performance to get his 1300cc turbo Force into the top 10.
Ryder said: “I've got a small lead with dropped scores taken in, but I can't afford any inconsistency. The car felt really good all weekend.” Menzies, too was pleased to be back in the hunt after a challenging season: “Hats off to Matthew, but we've had our best weekend of the year so far and the car is feeling good.”
Hall sliced four tenths off his previous personal best for Prescott but was still struggling for traction out of the Pardon hairpin. Summers, meanwhile, was philosophical about the result. “At places like Prescott and Harewood, we're just half a second down. I think we got the best out of what we had.”
Written by Paul Lawrence and published in partnership with Autosport
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