Ryder excels as others struggle at a wet/dry Harewood

Matt Ryder splashes up a soaked Harewood on his way to double BHC run-off glory – Photo Credit Ben Lawrence

Unpredictable weather, difficult tyre choices and a sublime performance from young Alex Coles were all elements of the British Hillclimb Championship presented by Nova Motorsports’ second visit of the season to Harewood. But through it all, current championship leader Matthew Ryder emerged for another important pair of victories.

Sunday morning was wet, on and off, and by the time it came to the first run-off in the middle of the day it was still wet, but no longer raining and starting to dry slowly. In the class runs, 20-year old Coles had been magnificent to qualify fastest in his 1300 turbo Force with a sublime display of natural talent in testing conditions.

However, as the track continued to dry for the first run-off, tyre choice was thrown into confusion. Decisions were split between all wets, all slicks and wets on the front and slicks on the rear. Whilst the burn-out at the start would get heat into the rear slicks, warming up front slicks on a cold and damp track was always a challenge and some opted to run wets on the front, which would pick up heat quicker through the first couple of corners.

Alex Coles hit the headlines with a fabulous drive to second place overall in the first BHC Harewood run-off - Photo Credit Ben Lawrence

Notable performances included that of a flying David Warburton, who ran a 54.20s with wets all round on his 1600cc Gould while Will Hall slotted into third in his Gould GR59, similarly with wets all round.

Matthew Ryder ran last but stormed up the hill with a charging 50.83s to set the bar way higher than anyone could match by an unusually big margin. Finally young Coles went to the line and turned it on once again with 53.04s to seal second and his best ever run-off result.

Coles’ rivals were quick to applaud the Plymouth youngster. “Matt was fantastic,” said Wallace Menzies, who was back in sixth after an electrical glitch left him struggling with launch and traction control issues. But his biggest praise was reserved for Coles. “That's a big day in his career and Alex absolutely delivered,” said former four time champion Menzies.

At the end of the afternoon, the weather had improved and the hill was fully dry, despite the ever-present threat of more rain, so it was slicks all round. That took away some of Coles’ giant-killing opportunity, but he still took a fine sixth as Jack Cottrill and Paul Haimes rounded out very good days with fifth and fourth places respectively.

Hall, on 49.82s, was again third on a hill that has not always been good to him and then, with the electrics sorted out, Menzies put a marker down with a very strong 48.59s. Only Ryder was left to run but, once again, he turned it on in style at Harewood, and a 48.27s ensured his ninth win from 16 run-offs this season.

However, it took a quick change of nose assembly on the Ryder GR59 after Sean Gould slid off at Orchard in the class runs. Fortunately, the team carries a complete front assembly ready to bolt on.

Ryder said: “I also locked a wheel at the same corner as Sean but got away with it. That was quite a cold track,” he said of the challenge of getting heat into tyres. “But I knew what I had to beat and I knew the car was good enough.”

Simon Bainbridge leads the BHC Tin Top-Top Ten after Harewood in the big SBR Crono - Photo Credit Ben Lawrence

Harewood was also the second event of the 2025 BHC Tin Top-Top Ten Challenge. Reigning Champion Simon Bainbridge carried on where he left off at Doune a couple of weeks earlier. Two run-off wins showed Simon’s excellent form and strengthened his top spot in the Audi engined SBR Crono. It was good to see both Steven Darley and Damien Bradley out sharing Steven’s Subaru Legacy. After Damien’s brilliant performance to take third place in class in the Pikes Peak Hillclimb in Colorado USA in June in his own Subaru Legacy, it was back to BHC Tin-Top action. A second and third place each in the two run-offs was a good return from the weekend. Donald MacCaskill continued his good form in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo5. A pair of fourth place run-off finishes consolidated his second place in the 2025 Tin Top Challenge.

In the classes Dave Warburton had a great weekend in his motorcycle engined Gould GR59. A pair of class wins enabled him to keep his Championship lead in the BHC Cup presented by BMTR supported by Hoosier. Jimmy Harris is however right on Dave’s shoulder in his Van Diemen RF85 closely followed by Jonathen Varley in his beautifully prepared GWR Raptor. When dropped scores come into play things will tighten up further. Its still all to play for!

The BHC now moves onto the Channel Islands events with rounds at Bouley Bay Jersey on Tuesday 15 July followed by Val des Terres Guernsey on Saturday 19 July. Both Wallace Menzies and Will Hall need to score big to put Matt Ryder under pressure as we head into the second half of what is proving to be an exciting season.

Written by Paul Lawrence and published in partnership with Autosport.