BRITISH HILL CLIMB CHAMPIONSHIP - REPORT ARCHIVE

SUMMERS TOPS CHAMPIONSHIP FINALE

Event 15 at Loton Park on 28/09/2025
With the leading places in this year’s British Hillclimb Championship already decided by Loton’s  final rounds, despite having contested only eight of this season’s fifteen events for family reasons 2015 champion Alex Summers showed that he could still compete with the very best. He stormed to the opening run-off win and FTD ahead of this season’s Championship leading pair in a shoot-out delayed early on by a high speed accident to Dave Uren’s Gould-NME GR55B on Cedar Straight. The car was badly damaged, but happily Dave emerged unharmed, to the relief of all. Wallace Menzies and Matt Ryder, the latter already confirmed as champion two meetings previously, were split by just seven hundredths as they battled in Summers’ wake, with Will Hall chasing hard and less than a couple of tenths away.
          Delays during the day had meant an early evening finish for the final run-off of the year. The temperature had dropped and with it, Summers’ fortunes as the Firestorm locked a wheel into Fallow and the early winner slipped to fourth place. Just seven tenths covered the leading quartet  as an optimistic Menzies, delighted to be back at maximum pace after a hard fought season, pipped Ryder to the win by a tenth of a second and already had his sights set on the next one. ‘Once Matt had taken the title at Prescott,’ said Wallace, ‘the last two rounds at Doune and Loton have been the start of the 2026 season for us.’ Once again among the leading contenders this year with a tenth third place of the season – not to mention four wins and seven second places – Will Hall continued to show that the Championship third place finisher could pose an ever increasing threat next year.
          Behind the top four, in the opening run-off Trevor Willis held off a stern challenge from another of this year’s stand-out drivers, the giant-killing Alex Coles in his Force-Suzuki turbo, by twelve hundredths. Next up, David Warburton’s normally aspirated GR59-Suzuki held off the turbocharged version of Paul Haimes by just two hundredths despite the turbocharged version’s water leak due to cylinder head problems which had dogged Haimes since Doune the previous weekend. Jack Cottrill and Darren Gumbley rounded off the top ten scorers, but an off at Museum kept Johnathen Varley out of the points. There was some wing damage to the Predator, but after swift work in the paddock the car was out again for afternoon qualifying.
          In the second shoot-out, having missed out in the morning after a non-damaging off in qualifying, Sean Gould edged out Willis – shadowed again by the ever-present Coles – for fifth place. Cottrill moved the DJ Dallara up a place to eighth ahead of Varley, while Graham Wynn took the final point in his Gould-Judd ahead of a penalised Harry Pick’s OMS-XD.
          Haimes sat out the second qualifying runs in his ailing GR59 and Dave Warburton, after qualifying eighth, opted out of the second run-off. But with Haimes intent on repeating his tenth place on the Championship table ahead of his rival in the ex.works version, he had finally got the verdict after a somewhat problematic year.

Motorsport UK/Nova Motorsport British Hillclimb Championship, Loton Park

FTD: Alex Summers (2.7 DJ Firestorm-Cosworth XD) 43.14s

Championship run-off, round 29:1 Summers 43.14s; 2 Wallace Menzies (3.3 Gould-Cosworth XD GR59M) 43.52s; 3 Matthew Ryder (4.0 Gould-Judd DB4 GR59BJ) 43.59s; 4 Will Hall (4.0 Gould-Judd DB4 GR59J) 43.76s; 5 Trevor Willis (3.2 OMS-RPE 28) 45.22s; 6 Alex Coles (1.3s Force-Suzuki TA) 45.34s; 7 David Warburton (1.6 Gould-Suzuki GR59) 45.41s; 8 Paul Haimes (1.3t Gould-Suzuki GR59) 45.43s; 9 Jack Cottrill (2.7 DJ Dallara Cosworth XD) 45.92s; 10 Darren Gumbley (1.6 Force-Suzuki TA) 47.01s; Johnathen Varley (2.0 GWR Predator-TKD YV8) DNF; Dave Uren (3.5 Gould-NME GR55B) DNF.

Championship run-off, round 30: 1 Menzies 43.23s; 2 Ryder 43.32s; 3 Hall 43.85s; 4 Summers 43.92s; 5 Sean Gould (4.0 Gould-Judd DB4 GR59BJ) 44.33s; 6 Willis 44.59s; 7 Coles 44.67s; 8 Cottrill 45.10s; 9 Varley 45.90s; 10 Graham Wynn (4.0 Gould-Judd DB4 GRW59) 46.21s; 11 Harry Pick (2.7 OMS-Cosworth XD 28) 48.25s (inc. pen.); 12 Warburton DNS.

British Hillclimb Championship final positions: 1 Ryder 227pts; 2 Menzies 216; 3 Hall 204; 4 Gould 144; 5 Willis 124; 6 Uren 111; 7 Summers 130; 8 Coles 86; 9 Jack Cottrill 83; 10 Haimes 63; etc.


 

Alex Summers - still a top contender despite an abbreviated season (Stuart Wing)


Wallace Menzies rounded off his season win a seventh run-off win (Stuart Wing)


Alex Coles again challenged the V8s (Stuart Wing)


Paul Haimes secured another tenth place on the Championship table (Stuart Wing)

HALL'S DOUNE DOUBLE

Event 14 at Doune on 21/09/2025
On his most successful day of the year so far, Will Hall increased his 2025 run-off win tally to four with two more at Doune, the first of them setting the outright pace for the day. Wallace Menzies had to give best to the Midlander’s brilliantly measured onslaught each time, closing to within two tenths of Hall’s final charge as alone in the field, and in total contrast to Doune’s wet BSC event in June, both drivers performed a succession of sub-2sec launches in what were now perfect conditions on the daunting Scottish hill. This time, perhaps, their task was made slightly easier as there was no opposition from Matt Ryder, the newly crowned champion understandably not making the long trip north having just become a father! His championship winning car was, however, present in the hands of Sean Gould. Having set the pace throughout the five practice runs, Sean trailed Wallace by five hundredths for third place in the opening run-off, only to fall foul of the Esses barrier in the closing shoot-out and fail to finish, conceding the third place to Dave Uren. This left the driver of the now 20-year old ex.Groves Gould GR55B, who had trailed Gould by a tenth in the opener, with his best combined result of the season.
          Although failing to match his class record time during the qualifying runs, two impressive run-off shots by Johnathen Varley in his Predator-TKD were well inside it for fifth and fourth places respectively, the former at the expense of the redoubtable Trevor Willis. In the closing run-off, the OMS V8 driver was sixth again, this time having succumbed to an all-out onslaught by Alex Coles’ supercharged Force, which had failed to qualify for the opening shoot-out after slowing with a throttle cable failure..
          Behind Willis, the next four ran in the same order each time. Led by Paul Haimes’ GR59 turbo, Harry Pick scored his first British points of the year with two eighth places, his OMS-XD having been nicely warmed up during the qualifying runs by constructor Steve Owen during his traditional Doune outing in a customer car. Following his maiden British point at Prescott, Will Hamer scored four more at Doune with two ninth places in his OMS-BMW, the only 1-litre car in the run-offs. Nicola Menzies scored the final point in the morning in the GR55B at the expense of Darren Gumbley in his Force TA, only for Gumbley to turn the tables in the afternoon. Unfortunately, having qualified his own Force TA for his first ever British run-off before lunch, Mark Schlanker’s run ended with a harmless spin into the outfield at the notorious East Brae.

Motorsport UK/Nova Motorsport British Hillclimb Championship, Doune

FTD: Will Hall (4.0 Gould-Judd DB4 GR59J) 35,17s

Championship run-off, round 27: 1 Hall 35.17s; 2 Menzies (3.3 Gould-Cosworth XD GR59M) 35.45s; 3 Sean Gould (4.0 Gould-Judd DB4 GR59BJ) 35.50s; 4 Dave Uren (3.5 Gould-NME GR55B) 35.61s; 5 Johnathen Varley (2.0 GWR Predator-TKD YV8) 36.45s; 6 Trevor Willis (3.2 OMS-RPE 28) 36,46s; 7 Paul Haimes (1.3t Gould-Suzuki GR59) 37,94s; 8 Harry Pick (2.7 OMS-Cosworth XD 28) 39,34s; 9 Wil Hamer (1.0 OMS-BMW 28) 40,20s; 10 Nicola Menzies (3.5 Gould-NME GR55B) 40,30s; 11 Darren Gumbley (1.6 Force-Suzuki TA) 40,83s; 12 Mark Schlanker (1.6 Force TA-Suzuki) DNF.
         
Championship run-off, round 28: 1 Hall 35.63s; 2 Wallace Menzies 35.80s; 3 Uren 35.93s; 4 Varley 36,42s; 5 Alex Coles (1.3s Force-Suzuki TA) 36,70s; 6 Willis 36,81s; 7 Haimes 37,44s; 8 Pick 38,97s; 9 Hamer 40,17s; 10 Gumbley 40.46s; 11 Nicola Menzies 40,51s; Gould DNF.

British Hillclimb Championship positions after round 28: 1 Ryder 224pts; 2 Menzies 211; 3 Hall 203; 4 Gould 138; 5 Willis 115; 6 Uren 111; 7 Summers 86; 8 Jack Cottrill 78; 9 Coles 77; 10 Haimes 60; etc.
 

Will Hall enjoyed his best day of the year with both run-off wins and FTD (David Baxter)


Wallace Menzies trailed Hall at close quarters each time (David Baxter)


Dave Uren also had a good day with his best combined result of the season (David Baxter)


Harry Pick scored each time on his 2025 run-off debut (David Baxter)

FATHER'S DAY

Event 13 at Prescott on 07/09/2025
In the wet and in the dry, the ‘semi-works’ Gould-Judd GR59 of Matt Ryder and Sean Gould dominated proceedings at Prescott, the two drivers swapping wins and second places as the 2025 British Hillclimb Championship moved towards its closing phases. After qualifying top, Ryder won the opening shoot-out from his co-driver after a wet first half to the meeting. Then later, in sunshine and on a dry track, it was the car’s constructor that had the final say as he took the win, and with it FTD, ahead of Ryder. Ryder’s strongest rival in a hard fought season, Wallace Menzies, had been demoted to fourth place each time, if only marginally, by an inspired Will Hall, and his Championship challenge was finally over. After fourteen wins and six second place finishes, Ryder had finally done enough to take a second consecutive British title.
          It was another fine result for the Gould team, particularly after the extensive repair work following Sean’s recent accident at Shelsley. And for Matt there would be further celebration, as he and his wife Kirsten were awaiting the imminent arrival of their first child!
          Last to run in the wet conditions of the first run-off, Ryder pulled out a three tenths lead, but opening runner Gould had showed his form early, only 15 hundredths covering his GR59 and those of Menzies and Hall, running just behind Ryder, while Alex Summers’ Firestorm and Dave Uren’s GR55B lay half a second behind the top four. A further second away and just three hundredths clear of the flying Alex Coles, Johnathen Varley scored his best finish so far this year in a British run-off with seventh place. Unfortunately the Predator-TKD driver’s hopes of a repeat performance in the afternoon run-off would be dashed when the car cut out coming to the line. Despite much burrowing in the cockpit and a fair amount of time allowance by the C-o-C, the problem could not be solved and Johnathen was forced to retire.
          Trevor Willis and David Warburton rounded off the points scorers, leaving Darren Gumbley and Steve Owen, on his first shot for points this year in the works OMS-RPE, out of luck.
          In contrast, the closing run-off was run in virtually dry conditions. Times were around five seconds faster and apart from the leading pair’s reshuffle, the top six were the same and covered by just over a second. Willis had a better result, moving up to seventh place to keep an on-the-limit Coles back in eighth ahead of Warburton, who was pleased to be right back in the running following extensive repairs, carried out by his father Alan with parts again supplied by Gould, after his own accident at Shelsley. Making a fine British run-off debut and taking the final point (albeit courtesy of retirees Varley and Paul Haimes, whose GR59 turbo also refused to start) was Will Hamer, driving the enormously effective 1-litre OMS-BMW in which both he and his brother Ben have been taking the 1100cc racing class by storm this year.
           Prescott saw the final two rounds of the AET Turbos Tin Top Challenge and with Simon Bainbridge having already clinched the title for the second year running at Shelsley, he signed off with another win at Prescott ahead of Damien Bradley. He didn’t have it all his own way as Bradley, the inaugural series winner in 2003 and now with a new AET turbo installed on his 4WD Pike’s Peak Legacy, found a whole second advantage in the afternooon’s dry run-off to take the win and secure second overall in this year’s series. He drew clear of absentee Steve Darley on the table, following the two friends’ tie for second place after Shelsley. Driving the most potent of his collection of Mitsubishi Evo 6s, Stephen Moore battled with series rival Donald McCaskill’s even more powerful Evo3 as the pair swapped third and fourth places in successive run-offs, but it was the Wiltshire farmer who finally headed the Scot in the Challenge series to finish in a clear fourth place overall.

Motorsport UK/Nova Motorsport British Hillclimb Championship, Prescott

FTD: Sean Gould (4.0 Gould-Judd DB4 GR59BJ) 35.75s

Championship run-off, round 25: 1 Matthew Ryder (4.0 Gould-Judd DB4 GR59BJ) 40.68s; 2 Sean Gould (4.0 Gould-Judd DB4 GR59BJ) 41.01s; 3 Will Hall (4.0 Gould-Judd DB4 GR59J) 41.04s; 4 Wallace Menzies (3.3 Gould-Cosworth XD GR59M) 41.16s; 5 Alex Summers (2.7 DJ Firestorm-Cosworth XD) 41.66s; 6 Dave Uren (3.5 Gould-NME GR55B) 41.83s; 7 Johnathen Varley (2.0 GWR Predator-TKD YV8) 42.86s; 8 Alex Coles (1.3s Force-Suzuki TA) 42.89s; 9 Trevor Willis (3.2 OMS-RPE 28) 43.00s; 10  Warburton (1.6 Gould-Suzuki GR59) 43.59s;
11 Darren Gumbley (1.6 Force-Suzuki TA) 43.91s; 12 Steve Owen (2.7 OMS-RPE 28) 44.13s.

Championship run-off, round 26: 1 Gould 35.75s; 2 Ryder 35.91s; 3 Hall 36.46s; 4 Menzies 36.61s; 5 Summers 36.87s; 6 Uren 36.88s; 7 Willis 36.92s; 8 Coles 37.52s; 9 Warburton 38.67s; 10 Wil Hamer (1.0 OMS-BMW 28) 39.57s; Varley DNS; Paul Haimes (1.3t Gould-Suzuki GR59) DNS.
         
British Hillclimb Championship positions after round 26: 1 Ryder 224pts; 2 Menzies 206; 3 Hall 189; 4 Gould 130; 5 Willis 105; 6 Uren 96; 7 Summers 86; 8 Jack Cottrill 78; 9 Coles 71; 10 Haimes 52; etc.

BHC Tin Top Challenge, round 8: 1 Simon Bainbridge (4.2t SBR Chrono-Audi V8) 45.67s; 2 Damien Bradley (2.3t Subaru Legacy) 47.47s; 3 Donald McCaskill (2.3s Mitsubishi Evo 3) 49.43s; 4 Stephen Moore (2.3t Mitsubishi Evo 6 RS) 51.82s; 5 Richard Hampstead (2.0t Subaru Impreza RA) 53.21s; 6 Tony Hawkins (1.6t Toyota Yaris GR) 53.39s; 7 Rodney Eyles (3.8t Porsche 911 Turbo) 53.98s; 8 Paul Howells (3.8 Porsche 911 RSR) 55.30s; No other starters.

BHC Tin Top Challenge, final round: 1 Bradley 42.95s; 2 Bainbridge 43.97s; 3 Moore 44.83s; 4 McCaskill 45.44s; 5 Howells 46.69s; 6 Hampstead 48.86s; No other starters.

BHC Tin Top Challenge, final positions: 1 Bainbridge 80pts; 2 Bradley 71; 3 Stephen Darley 52; 4 Moore 48; 5 McCaskill 38; 6= Eyles and Howells 23; 8 Stuart Reid 22; 9 Jonathan Williamson 18; 10 Jock Ramsay 15; etc.
 

Matt Ryder - double champion and father to be!


Sean Gould set the day's outright pace (Stuart Wing)


Will Hall chased home the leading duo each time (Stuart Wing)


Second overall in the series, Damien Bradley won the year's fimal Tin Top run-off (Stuart Wing)

DRAMATIC SHELSLEY

Event 12 at Shelsley Walsh on 10/08/2025
At a sun-baked Shelsley Walsh, a large crowd witnessed high speeds and a dramatic turn of events. British Championship leader Matt Ryder closed to within half a second of Sean Gould’s 2021 hill record in their Gould-Judd GR59 to set FTD, a quarter of a second clear of his Championship rival Wallace Menzies, during a close fought opening run-off in which half a second covered second to sixth places. The afternoon shoot-out saw 2025 ‘part-timer’ Alex Summers take his second Shelsley win of the year in the DJ Firestorm. There was drama even before the run-off when, during afternoon qualifying, the tail of Sean Gould’s GR59 snapped round in the Esses and the car smote the inside bank. Damage was extensive enough to sideline both he and Ryder from taking any further part and with Menzies finishing third behind Will Hall in the closing run-off, the gap between the 4-times champion and the series leader closed to just six points.
          Hall was delighted with his second place finish as after qualifying top for the opening run-off with what would be one of the day’s three 22sec runs, he had come to the line with his GR59 only to be faced with a long delay. A timing glitch and a subsequent medical issue among the spectators meant that his start was held for 15 minutes. This hardly put him in the right frame of mind for a committed attack on the hill and he had to settle for fifth place behind Gould and Summers. Behind Hall during this first run-off. Dave Uren rounded off the top six with a half second cushion from Paul Haimes, who also managed to outrun Trevor Willis. Close behind was David Warburton, leaving Jack Cottrill’s DJ Dallara with the final point, although Warburton was another to be eliminated from the final shoot-out due to an accident in afternoon qualifying when his GR59-Suzuki had a braking issue coming into the Esses. The car spun backwards into the Recticel barrier with resulting damage sufficient to sideline the car. Out of the points were Graham Wynn, eleventh in his GR59-Judd and Zach Zammit, a serious misfire due to an electronic problem restricting the pace of his works Empire Wraith, which was not seen again. To complete this tale of attrition amongst the top contenders, the Force of Alex Coles, who might well have been expected to be a run-off qualifier, was eliminated as early as the first class runs when a loose wheel damaged the car’s front suspension. Coles brought the car to a halt and it was out for the day.
          With so many top contenders by then out of the running, the closing run-off saw improved placings for those remaining and brought several other drivers into the fray, among them the Greenen brothers with their Empire Evo3, Pete Tatham’s supercharged OMS-Suzuki and Johnathen Varley’s Predator-TKD. Behind the top three, Uren, Willis and Cottrill all improved their placings although Cottrill was the only one of the three to improve his time, taking sixth place. Graham Wynn achieved his best finish of the year to demote Paul Haimes to eighth place, and although Andy Greenen finished in the points with ninth, his brother Adam just missed out with eleventh place ahead of Varley. At the wheel his supercharged OMS-Suzuki 25, Pete Tatham scored a point for tenth place in his first British run-off appearance.
          A single AET Turbos Tin Top Challenge run-off counted for double points at this event, and yet another win for Simon Bainbridge sealed a second consecutive title for the driver of the highly effective SBR-Chrono Audi V8. Just behind at Shelsley, and indeed on the Championship table where they left the venue tied for second place, were Steve Darley and Damien Bradley. While Darley ran his effective Red Baron’ Subaru Impreza, this time Bradley was at the wheel of his Pikes Peak Subaru Legacy, which had been returned from the Colorado venue during the week. A broken rear driveshaft during his sole qualifying run (the single run-off was to be held during the morning runs) proved no obstacle – it was quickly replaced and Bradley ran third behind Darley in the pre-lunch run-off. Into fourth place came Stephen Moore in the most powerful version of his Mitsubishi collection, moving the Salisbury farmer up into fourth place on the series table, a position which, with just two Prescott rounds remaining, he looks set to retain. Fifth was 3-times British Sprint champion Rodney Eyles in his Porsche 911 turbo, ahead of Paul Howells’ 911 RSR.

FTD: Matthew Ryder (4.0 Gould-Judd DB4 GR59BJ) 22.84s

Championship run-off, round 23: 1 Ryder 22.84s; 2 Wallace Menzies (3.3 Gould-Cosworth XD GR59M) 23.10s; 3 Sean Gould (4.0 Gould-Judd DB4 GR59BJ) 23.18s; 4 Alex Summers (2.7 DJ Firestorm-Cosworth XD) 23.25s; 5 Will Hall (4.0 Gould-Judd DB4 GR59J) 23.30s; 6 Dave Uren (3.5 Gould-NME GR55B) 23.38s; 7 Paul Haimes (1.3t Gould-Suzuki GR59) 23.86s; 8 Trevor Willis (3.2 OMS-RPE 28) 23.95s; 9 David Warburton (1.6 Gould-Suzuki GR59) 24.26s; 10 Jack Cottrill (2.7 DJ Dallara Cosworth XD) 24.32s; 11 Graham Wynn (4.0 Gould-Judd DB4 GRW59) 24.54s; 12 Zach Zammit (1.3t Empire Wraith-Suzuki) 30.83s.

Championship run-off, round 24: 1 Summers 22.93s; 2 Hall 23.07s; 3 Menzies 23.18s; 4 Uren 23.84s; 5 Willis 24.12s; 6 Cottrill 24.29s; 7 Wynn 24.70s; 8 Haimes 24.80s; 9 Andrew Greenen (1.6 Empire Evo 3-Suzuki) 25.00s; 10 Pete Tatham (1.3s OMS-Suzuki 25) 25.69s; 11 Adam Greenen (1.6 Empire Evo 3-Suzuki) 25.73s; 12 Johnathen Varley (2.0 GWR Predator-TKD YV8) 25.83s.

British Hillclimb Championship positions after round 24: 1 Ryder 208pts; 2 Menzies 202; 3 Hall 173; 4 Gould 111; 5 Willis 99; 6 Uren 88; 7 Jack Cottrill 78; 7; 8 Summers 74; 9 Alex Coles 65; 10 Haimes 52; etc.

BHC Tin Top Challenge, round 7: 1 Simon Bainbridge (4.2t SBR Chrono-Audi V8) 28.19s;
2 Steve Darley (2.4t Subaru Impreza) 28.78s; 3 Damien Bradley (2.3t Subaru Legacy) 28.87s;
4 Stephen Moore (2.3t Mitsubishi Evo 6 RS) 30.41s; 5 Rodney Eyles (3.8t Porsche 911 Turbo) 31.71s; 6 Paul Howells (3.8 Porsche 911 RSR) 31.91s; 7 Richard Andrews (4.0 Porsche GT4RS) 32.26s; 8 Tony Adams (2.5t Porsche Cayman) 32.90s; 9 Robert Lancaster-Gaye (3.8 Porsche 997 GT3) 33.26s; 10 Tim Elmer (1.8t Alpine A110) 34.10s.

BHC Tin Top Challenge positions after round 7: 1 Bainbridge 78pts; 2= Bradley and Darley 52; 4 Moore 33; 5 Donald McCaskill 23; 6 Stuart Reid 22; 7= Eyles and Jonathan Williamson 18; 9 Jock Ramsay 15; 10 Howells 14; etc.


 

Matt Ryder secured the first win with FTD on his sole run-off appearance (Stuart Wing)


Alex Summers took his second Shelsley win of the year (Stuart Wing)


Graham Wynn scored his best finish of the year so far (Stuart Wing)


Damien Bradley brought back the Pikes Peak Subaru Legacy for the Tin Top run-off (Stuart Wing)

RYDER'S WISCOMBE DOUBLE

Event 11 at Wiscombe Park on 27/07/2025
With two more wins at Wiscombe Park bringing his 2025 win tally to 12, hill record-holder Matt Ryder pushed his British Hillclimb Championship lead back into double figures. Once again hosting two Tin Top Challenge run-offs as well as those for the British series, Woolbridge MC spread the competition runs equally over the two days, and the event did indeed prove to be a game of two halves. Saturday’s qualifying runs and subsequent run-offs were held in ideal conditions, whereas early afternoon rain on Sunday left the track some six seconds slower in what, by the time the run-offs came round, were still damp and slippery conditions.
          In what is still, for him, a low-key year of competition, Alex Summers was back at the wheel of the Firestorm and showing he’d lost none of the form that brought him second place in last year’s title chase. He challenged Ryder hard, taking second place in Saturday’s run-off, while Wallace Menzies and Will Hall fought it out for third with Menzies getting the verdict by just six hundredths. As expected, Alex Coles shone at his home event and having earlier set a new class record in the supercharged Force-Suzuki, once again harried the V8s with a competitive fifth place ahead of Dave Uren and Trevor Willis. Closing in on Willis was Dave Warburton, his bike-engined GR59 holding off fellow BH Cup front-runner Johnathen Varley’s 2-litre Predator-TKD V8 with ease, leaving Darren Gumbley to secure the final point in his Force TA. Out of the points were Jason Tunnicliffe’s Empire and Sean Gould’s GR59. First away in the run-off, Sean spun off under power exiting Wis Corner.
          In the very different conditions on Sunday, although the rain had ceased everyone was running wet tyres on a track which was particularly treacherous up through Wiscombe’s long wooded section. But Ryder remained in charge, this time by half a second from top qualifier Hall. Summers was still in contention with the Firestorm, snatching third place by a couple of tenths from Gould. Sean had made up for the previous day’s faux pas, but snapping at his heels a tenth or so behind was the ever-present Coles to make it two fifth places over the weekend. With more on-the-limit driving in the supercharged Force he edged out a struggling Menzies, while Warburton moved up a place to seventh, reversing the previous day’s duel with Willis. After a mechanically problematic weekend with his turbocharged GR59-Suzuki, Paul Haimes had finally made the cut and took ninth place, while the final point went to the only 1-litre car in the run-off, the Empire Evo of Tom Weaver. Varley finished just out of the points ahead of the gallant Damien Bradley. The Subaru saloon driver had earlier qualified his Subaru saloon second fastest, although in much drier conditions and having also qualified the car for the Tin Top shoot-out, became the first driver to compete in the two, immediately consecutive, run-offs.
          Bradley was again sharing the car with Steven Darley and with both drivers featuring strongly in both Tin Top Challenge run-offs over the weekend it was Bradley who took the first win from his co-driver in Saturday’s dry shoot-out. Clear Championship leader Simon Bainbridge threaded the vast SBR Chrono through the Wiscombe hairpins for an unaccustomed third place ahead of Stephen Moore’s Impreza and, aboard his diminutive Peugeot 205 in what was his first visit to Wiscombe Park, Scotsman Stuart Reid. Despite the wet conditions on Sunday, it was Bainbridge who elbowed his big machine out front to head Bradley and Darley. He maintained his strong Championship lead, now 22 points, ahead of the Subaru duo who were now split by just two points, while another fine drive by Reid took fourth place ahead of Jim Herbert’s Mitsubishi Evo, elevating the giant-killing Scot to fifth overall on the Challenge table.

Motorsport UK/Nova Motorsport British Hillclimb Championship, Wiscombe Park

FTD: Matthew Ryder (4.0 Gould-Judd DB4 GR59BJ) 32.74s

Championship run-off, round 21: 1 Ryder 32.74s; 2 Alex Summers (2.7 DJ Firestorm-Cosworth XD) 32.86s; 3 Wallace Menzies (3.3 Gould-Cosworth XD GR59M) 33.16s; 4 Will Hall (4.0 Gould-Judd DB4 GR59J) 33.22s; 5 Alex Coles (1.3s Force-Suzuki TA) 33.94s; 6 Dave Uren (3.5 Gould-NME GR55B) 34.13s; 7 Trevor Willis (3.2 OMS-RPE 28) 34.37s; 8 David Warburton (1.6 Gould-Suzuki GR59) 34.82s; 9 Johnathen Varley (2.0 GWR Predator-TKD YV8) 35.47s; 10 Darren Gumbley (1.6 Force-Suzuki TA) 35.72s; 11 Jason Tunnicliffe (1.0t Empire Evo3-Suzuki) 35.89s; 12 Sean Gould (4.0 Gould-Judd DB4 GR59BJ) F/R

Championship run-off, round 22: 1 Ryder 38.29s; 2 Hall 38.74s; 3 Summers 39.33s; 4 Gould 39.51s; 5 Coles 39.64s; 6 Menzies 39.73s; 7 Warburton 40.54s; 8 Willis 40.67s; 9 Paul Haimes (1.3t Gould-Suzuki GR59) 41.47s; 10 Tom Weaver (1.0 Empire Evo2-Suzuki) 42.02s; 11 Varley 43.09s; 12 Damien Bradley (2.4t Subaru Impreza RB) 43.40s.

British Hillclimb Championship positions after round 22: 1 Ryder 198pts; 2 Menzies 185; 3 Hall 158; 4 Gould 103; 5 Willis 90; 6 Uren 74; 7 Jack Cottrill 72; 7; 8 Coles 65; 9 Summers 57; 10 Haimes 45; etc.

BHC Tin Top Challenge, round 5: 1 Damien Bradley (2.4t Subaru Impreza) 38.88s; 2 Steve Darley (2.4t Subaru Impreza) 39.36s; 3 Simon Bainbridge (4.2t SBR Chrono-Audi V8) 39.37s: 4 Stephen Moore (2.3t Mirsubishi Evo 6 RS) 42.06s; 5 Stuart Reid (1.9 Peugeot 205) 42.66s; 6 Richard Snow (Porsche Cayman GT4 RS) 42.86s; 7 Paul Howells (3.8 Porsche 911 RSR) 43.05s; 8 Jonathan Williamson (3.5 Porsche 911 Carrera) 43.09s; 9 Rodney Eyles (3.8t Porsche 911 Turbo) 43.48s; 10 Jim Herbert (2.3t Mitsubishi Evo 5) 43.92s.

BHC Tin Top Challenge, round 6: 1 Bainbridge 42.52s; 2 Bradley 43.84s; 3 Darley 44.86s; 4 Reid 46.50s; 5 Herbert 46.86s; 6 Eyles 47.15s; 7 Eric Morrey (1.0t Hillman Imp) 48.29s; 8 Tony Bonfield (1.4 Austin Mini) 54.65s; Tony Adams (2.5t Porsche Cayman DNS; Richard Andrews (4.0 Porsche GT4 RS) DNS.

BHC Tin Top Challenge positions after round 6: 1 Bainbridge 58pts; 2 Bradley 36; 3 Darley 34; 4 McCaskill 23; 5 Reid 22; 6 Moore 19;  7 Williamson 18; 8 Jock Ramsay 15 9 Snow 12; 10 John Wood 11; etc.

 

For the fourth time this year, Matt Ryder led the way throughout in the Championship chase (Nigel Cole)


Back in action in the Firestorm, Alex Summers chased Ryder home in Saturday's run-off (Nigel Cole)


Alex Coles harried the big V8s with fifth place each day (Nigel Cole)


Damien Bradley - the first driver to run in both Tin Top and British run-offs on the same day (Nigel Cole)

MENZIES' GUERNSEY DOUBLE

Event 10 at Le Val Des Terres on 19/07/2025
Wallace Menzies strengthened his BHC challenge with his second double win of the year when, four days after Bouley Bay, the Championship moved over to Le Val des Terres, the tortuous but rapid blast up from the St Peter Port seafront on Guernsey. As Matt Ryder had done on Jersey, Menzies set the outright pace for the day in winning the opening run-off. Once again Will Hall was in the thick of the action, each time challenging for second place. Half a second adrift of Menzies in the opening run-off, in the closing shoot-out the gap was down to just four hundredths. On a hill where he has never enjoyed the best of fortune, Ryder had to settle for third place each time, allowing his main Championship rival to close the gap to just six points after three consecutive wins.
          As ever, local hero Nick Saunders chased the front runners at the Terres, bringing his self-built Reynick-Suzuki home in fourth place each time. At the wheel of his Empire-Evo Suzuki, Islander Tim Tulie chased hard for fifth place in the opening shoot-out, holding Dave Uren and Trevor Willis at bay, but in the second stanza, the two mainlanders squeezed their V8s past to ease the 1.1-litre car back to seventh place. Paul Haimes, who had not taken his bike-engined GR59 turbocar to Jersey, made up for it on Guernsey with eighth place each time, in the process moving up the BHC table to ninth place. Emma Rayson’s 1.1-litre Empire closed to within fifteen hundredths of Haimes in the opening shoot-out, leaving Ian Le Messurier’s bike-engined Lemtech sports libre car to bag the final point ahead of fellow Islanders Andy Bougourd and Simon Carre’s 2-litre Dallara. But it was Darren Gumbley that chased home Haimes in the final run-off, leaving Carre with the final point ahead of Rayson and Ian Le Messurier’s brother Paul.

Motorsport UK/Nova Motorsport British Hillclimb Championship, Le Val Des Terres

FTD: Wallace Menzies (3.3 Gould-Cosworth XD GR59M) 27.04s

Championship run-off, round 19: 1 Menzies 27.04s; 2 Will Hall (4.0 Gould-Judd DB4 GR59J) 27.57s; 3 Matthew Ryder (4.0 Gould-Judd DB4 GR59BJ) 27.97s; 4 Nick Saunders (1.6 Reynick-Suzuki) 28.10s; 5 Tim Tulie (1.1 Empire Evo-Suzuki) 28.52s; 6 Dave Uren (3.5 Gould-NME GR55B) 28.75s; 7 Trevor Willis (3.2 OMS-RPE 28) 29.38s; 8 Paul Haimes (1.3t Gould-Suzuki GR59) 29.83s; 9 Emma Rayson (1.1 Empire Evo-Suzuki) 29.98s. 10 Ian Le Messurier (1.3 Lemtech-Suzuki DB03) 30.47s; 11 Andy Bougourd (1.6 Force-Suzuki PT) 30.98s; 12 Simon Carre (2.0 Dallara F302) 31.25s.

Championship run-off, round 20: 1 Menzies 27.05s; 2 Hall 27.09s; 3 Ryder 27.86s; 4 Saunders 27.96s; 5 Uren 28.11s; 6 Willis 28.35s; 7 Tulie 28.87s; 8 Haimes 29.22s; 9 Darren Gumbley (1.6 Force-Suzuki TA) 29.81s; 10 Carre 30.12s; 11 Rayson 30.30s; 12 Paul Le Messurier (1.3 Lemtech-Suzuki DB03) 30.35s.

British Hillclimb Championship positions after round 20: 1 Ryder 178pts; 2 Menzies 172; 3 Hall 142; 4 Sean Gould 96; 5 Willis 83; 6 Jack Cottrill 72; 7 Uren 69; 8 Alex Coles 53; 9 Haimes 43; 10 Alex Summers 40; etc.

All pictures by Andrew le Poidevin/www.tallpictures.com

 

Wallace Menzies strengthened his challenge woth three Channel Islands wins in a row


Guernseyman Nick Saunders harried the big V8s with two fourth places


Will Hall closed to within four hundredths of Menzies in the second run-off


Local driver Tim Tulie featured strongly in both run-offs, finishing fifth in the opener

RYDER AND MENZIES SWAP WINS ON JERSEY

Event 9 at Bouley Bay on 15/07/2025
On the hairpin strewn road that winds up from the tight harbour-front confines of Bouley Bay, the two top British Championship contenders fought a close duel during the opening leg of the BHC’s annual Channel Islands foray. The first run-off saw Matt Ryder edge out rival Wallace Menzies by four tenths to set a time that would stand as the day’s best, but in the afternoon it was Menzies’ turn for the win as he grabbed a seven tenths advantage over his rival. As ever, Will Hall was close at hand, two third places in his own Gould-Judd GR59 keeping him well in touch with the series leaders.
          Hill record holder Trevor Willis, his Bouley benchmark set nine years ago and with a time that was over a second quicker than Ryder’s winning shot, ran a strong fourth in the opener, closing to within a hundredth of Hall, but slipped back a place later at the hands of Dave Uren, after the driver of the ‘vintage’ GR55B made a strong recovery from an earlier ninth place. With a relatively small number of mainland regulars making the cross-Channel trip, several local drivers made the cut for the British run-offs. Andy Bougourd, the much travelled Guernseyman no stranger in BHC circles during the 2025 season and with Championship points already on the board, set the pace among the Islanders with fifth place in the opening run-off, although slipping to ninth later on. On his maiden BHC appearance, Michael Salmon gained useful points in his 2-litre OMS with sixth and seventh respectively heading off Nick Saunders’ Reynick each time, although the rapid Guernseyman would more than make up for this four days later on home soil at Le Val des Terres…
          Among the mainland contenders was Darren Gumbley who, on his best result of the year with eighth and sixth places respectively in his Force TA, ended the day to finish just outside the top twelve on the Championship table. Jonathan Flesher was another when, following his first appearance at Craigantlet in May, he added the Channel Islands to his ‘overseas CV’ making the opening cut in his 1-litre OMS, although finishing just out of the points.

Motorsport UK/Nova Motorsport British Hillclimb Championship, Bouley Bay

FTD: Matthew Ryder (4.0 Gould-Judd DB4 GR59BJ) 37.55s

Championship run-off, round 17: 1 Ryder 37.55s; 2 Wallace Menzies (3.3 Gould-Cosworth XD GR59M) 37.97s; 3 Will Hall (4.0 Gould-Judd DB4 GR59J) 38.23s; 4 Trevor Willis (3.2 OMS-RPE 28) 38.24s; 5 Andy Bougourd (1.6 Force-Suzuki PT) 38.72s; 6 Michael Salmon (2.0 OMS CF04) 38.80s; 7 Nick Saunders (1.6 Reynick-Suzuki) 39.04s; 8 Darren Gumbley (1.6 Force-Suzuki TA) 39.17s; 9 Dave Uren (3.5 Gould-NME GR55B) 39.30s; 10 Glyn Moignard (1.6 OMS 3000M) 40.46s; 11 Jonathan Flesher (1.0 OMS-Suzuki 28) 41.02s; 12 Scott Rayson (1.1 Empire Evo-Suzuki) 41.28s.
Championship run-off, round 18: 1 Menzies 37.85s; 2 Ryder 38.55s; 3 Hall 38.88s; 4 Uren 39.16s; 5 Willis 39.75s; 6 Gumbley  39.84s; 7 Salmon 39.93s; 8 Saunders 40.26s; 9 Bougourd 40.99s; 10 Rayson 41.46s; 11 Moignard 41.85s; 12 Paul Jones (1.6 Force-Suzuki TA) 42.20s.

British Hillclimb Championship positions after round 18: 1 Ryder 162pts; 2 Menzies 152; 3 Hall 124; 4 Sean Gould 96; 5 Willis 74; 6 Jack Cottrill 72; 7 Uren 58; 8 Alex Coles 53; 9 Alex Summers 40; 10 Paul Haimes and David Warburton 37; etc.

All pictures by Andrew le Poidevin/www.tallpictures.com

 

Wallace Menzies launches his Gould away from the harbourfront


Long-time hill record holder Trevor Willis closed to within a hundredth of Will Hall for fourth place in the opening run-off


Andy Bougourd - top Channel Islander in round 17 with fifth place


Local driver Michael Salmon qualified twice for his first British points

WET AND DRY HAREWOOD WINS FOR RYDER

Event 8 at Harewood on 06/07/2025
Amid day-long challenging weather, current Harewood record-holder Matt Ryder strengthened his Nova Motorsport British Hillclimb lead with two more wins at one of his favourite hills, bringing this year’s victory tally to nine at the halfway point in the season. Qualifying for the morning run-off took place on a streaming wet track and although Ryder qualified his Gould-Judd second fastest, leading the way by six hundredths was young Alex Coles after a devastating shot in his supercharged Force TA. Track conditions were starting to dry during the run-off itself, leading to much variation in tyre choice. Some opted for slicks, some for wets and some for a combination of front wets and rear slicks. Ryder and Coles ran wets all round and it paid off for both of them. Penultimate runner Ryder took what would be a clear win by well over two seconds but, last to run, Coles brought the Force home into a superb second place with his best ever British run-off result by far.
          Well over eight tenths behind Coles, Will Hall ran third in his Gould-Judd chased by David Warburton’s 1600cc Gould-Suzuki, which pulled out a second and a half on Jack Cottrill’s DJ Dallara-XD for a repeat of his Doune finish a fortnight earlier. Traction and launch control problems off the line meant a slow start for Wallace Menzies and he had to settle for sixth equal with Paul Haimes’ bike-engined GR59 turbo while Sean Gould, first to run and at a slight disadvantage in the drying conditions, ran eighth. Worse was to come, as with an off at Orchard Corner during afternoon qualifying, the constructor removed not only the car’s front wing but his chance of a place in the second run-off. However, a spare nose and wing assembly was rapidly installed so that co-driver Ryder could take his qualifying run.
          Alex Summers once again gave his AFS P4t-Cosworth V6 an airing, finishing ninth ahead of the only 1-litre car in the run-off, Tom Weaver’s Empire Evo 2-Suzuki. Darren Gumbley and Jason Tunnicliffe, however, both failed to get into the points after minor excursions into the Harewood outfield.
          Despite further showers in the afternoon, the track was dry for the closing run-off of the day by which time the top two qualifiers, Ryder and Menzies, had set the day’s first two sub 50sec climbs. They found even more time in the run-off itself when Ryder took his second win of the day, although still almost two seconds shy of his 2022 hill record. But with his electronic problems now solved, the Scot closed to within just over three tenths of his Championship rival. On the series table, however, the gap between them had increased to 11 points. Into third place again, a second and a quarter adrift but also in the 49s, came Will Hall who, with Sean Gould eliminated from the run-off, moved back into third place on the table.
          Just a couple of tenths behind Hall in fourth place , Paul Haimes scored his best finish of the year so far, this time managing to fend off Jack Cottrill by a couple of tenths. On a dry track this time, Alex Coles had to settle for seventh place, albeit only half a second behind forced induction classmate Haimes, although chasing hard was Alex Summers, who this time ran a tenth clear of Dave Warburton. Into the run-off this time were Johnathen Varley and Dave Uren, split by a tenth for the final point in favour of the Predator driver. Having made another long trip from Guernsey, Andy Bougourd just missed out for eleventh place in his Force PT. After failing to make the opening cut, Trevor Willis  qualified in a promising fourth place for the closing shoot-out, only to cap a miserable day in his OMS V6 with a spin at Country Corner, ending the day with no points on the board.
          Defending champion Simon Bainbridge continued his winning Doune form in rounds three and four of the AET Turbos BHC Tin Top Challenge. Two more run-off wins in the devastatingly effective SBR Chrono-Audi V8 left him with a commanding 17 point lead in the Championship. But with two fourth place finishes in his turbo/supercharged Mitsubishi Evo 5, Donald McCaskill now moved up into second overall on the table. With Steve Darley and Pikes Peak aficionado Damien Bradley back in the fray, both driving Darley’s new ‘Red Baron’ Impreza and swapping podium places in successive run-offs, they ended the day sharing third place on the table. This meant that the other leading runners after Doune, Jock Ramsay (who failed to make either run-off cut in his Opel Manta) and Jonathan Williamson in his 911 Carrera found themselves eased down the series table for a share of fifth place, ahead of Stephen Moore’s potent Evo 6 RS.

Motorsport UK/Nova Motorsport British Hillclimb Championship, Harewood

FTD: Matthew Ryder (4.0 Gould-Judd DB4 GR59BJ) 48.27s.

Championship run-off, round 15: 1 Ryder 50.83s; 2 Alex Coles (1.3s Force-Suzuki TA) 53.04s; 3 Will Hall (4.0 Gould-Judd DB4 GR59J) 53.88s; 4 David Warburton (1.6 Gould-Suzuki GR59) 54.20s; 5 Jack Cottrill (2.7 DJ Dallara Cosworth XD) 55.72s; 6= Paul Haimes (1.3t Gould-Suzuki GR59) 55.97s; 6= Wallace Menzies (3.3 Gould-Cosworth XD GR59M) 55.97s; 8 Sean Gould (4.0 Gould-Judd DB4 GR59BJ) 57.35s; 9 Alex Summers (2.5 AFS P4t-Cosworth/Opel V6) 58.26s; 10 Tom Weaver (1.0 Empire Evo2-Suzuki) 61.09s; Darren Gumbley (1.6 Force-Suzuki TA) DNF; Jason Tunnicliffe (1.0t Empire Evo3-Suzuki) DNF.

Championship run-off, round 16: 1 Ryder 48.27s; 2 Menzies 48.59s; 3 Hall 49.82s; 4 Haimes 50.06s; 5 Cottrill 50.14s; 6 Coles 50.55s; 7 Summers 50.89s; 8 Warburton 50.99s; 9 Johnathen Varley (2.0 GWR Predator-TKD YV8) 51.02s; 10 Dave Uren (3.5 Gould-NME GR55B) 51.11s; 11 Andy Bougourd (1.6 Force-Suzuki PT) 53.50s; Trevor Willis (3.2 OMS-RPE 28) DNF.
         
British Hillclimb Championship positions after round 16: 1 Ryder 141pts; 2 Menzies 132; 3 Hall 108; 4 Gould 96; 5 Cottrill 72; 6 Willis 61; 7 Coles 53; 8 Uren 49; 9 Alex Summers 40; 10 Haimes 38; etc.

BHC Tin Top Challenge, round 3: 1 Simon Bainbridge (4.2t SBR Chrono-Audi V8) 61.00s: 2 Steve Darley (2.4t Subaru Impreza) 64.21s; 3 Damien Bradley (2.4t Subaru Impreza) 65.18s; 4 Donald McCaskill (2.3t Mitsubishi Evo 3) 65.64s; 5 Stephen Moore (2.3t Mirsubishi Evo 6 RS) 67.30s; 6 Richard Snow (Porsche Cayman GT4 RS) 67.36s; 7 Stuart Reid (1.9 Peugeot 205) 68.17s; 8 Chris Berrisford (2.4t Subaru Impreza) 69.43s; 9 Jonathan Williamson (3.5 Porsche 911 Carrera) 71.33s; 10 Richard Andrews (4.0 Porsche GT4 RS) DNS.

BHC Tin Top Challenge, round 4: 1 Bainbridge 57.46s; 2 Bradley 58.28s; 3 Darley 58.31s; 4 McCaskill 58.57s; 5 Moore 59.83s; 6 Reid 61.56s; 7 Andrews 61.87s; 8 Berrisford 62.14s; 9 Snow 63.24s; 10 Eric Morrey (1.0t Hillman Imp) 64.50s.

BHC Tin Top Challenge positions after round 4: 1 Bainbridge 40pts; 2 McCaskill 23; 3= Bradley and Darley 17; 5= Jock Ramsay and Williamson 15; 7 Moore 12; 8 John Wood 11; 9 Richard Weaver 10; 10= Reid and Tom Weaver 9; etc.


 

Matt Ryder defied mixed conditions to take two more wins (Peter Scherer)


Alex Coles produced the best performance of his career so far (Peter Scherer)


Dave Warburton took fourth place in the opening run-off (Pete Scherer)


Donald McCaskill moved into second place on the Tin Top Challenge table (Peter Scherer)

HALL AND GOULD ON TOP AT DOUNE

Event 7 at Doune on 22/06/2025
Will Hall and Sean Gould took successive run-off wins at Doune as changing weather conditions throughout the day kept eventual outcomes in the balance. With the pre-lunch BHC run-off starting in heavy rain, Championship leader Matt Ryder, running first after having been outqualified by co-driver Sean Gould, caught the worst of the weather and would end up in only eighth place. Halfway through the run-off the rain stopped, successive runners stepped up the pace and with  just three to run, Wallace Menzies took the lead with the day’s first sub-30 sec run. Then Gould, despite a big slide at the top of East Brae, found another two tenths to go ahead. So it was all down to top qualifier Will Hall, who produced a superb effort in the still wet conditions to secure his second win of the season in the latest Gould GR59-Judd by just under three tenths.
          During qualifying for the opening run-off, Ryder’s crew had numerous attempts to push start his GR59 after a starter motor failure – which, as well as the pouring rain, cannot have left the driver in the best frame of mind for his run. But even after the unit had been repaired during the lunch break he was again outqualified for the final shoot-out by his co-driver, who had once more chased home the flying Hall’s top spot in the line-up. In the run-off itself, on a track by now almost dry although still with a few damp patches, Ryder found an improvement, but only to fifth place. With the season not yet at the halfway mark, when he regains his normal form Matt’s scores for this weekend will almost certainly be dropped. The top three from the first run-off ran in the same order as before and after Menzies had once more led the way, Gould again took the lead with a supreme effort on the hill’s upper reaches, leaving just Hall to run with a double win was in his sights. It looked on until his Gould locked up in a cloud of tyre smoke under braking for East Brae and skated into the outfield to bring his challenge to an end, at the same time handing third place on the series table to Gould by a single point. Meanwhile, with a second place finish, Menzies had narrowed his Championship deficit to Ryder to just four points.
          Behind the drama up front, Jack Cottrill mastered the wet conditions before lunch, equalling his best finish of the year with fourth place in the DJ Dallara, a second clear of a duel between David Warburton and Alex Coles as the battling pair eased Dave Uren down to seventh place, three hundredths clear of Ryder. It was all change during the dryer second runs, with Trevor Willis storming back from a disappointing eleventh place in the wet to equal a season’s-best third place in his OMS V8 at a hill where he normally shines. Johnathen Varley closed to within a tenth of Ryder in the morning rain, but was denied a run-off place in the afternoon after an off at Garden Gate during qualifying. Damage was minimal but on the very next run, after an argument with the barriers at Junction, Stuart Sugden sidelined the Raptor shared with fellow Scot Les Mutch, unfortunately denying his co-driver a place in the run-off for which he’d already qualified. With sixth place again in the afternoon, another fine drive by Alex Coles closed to within a tenth of Matt Ryder and moved up a place in the Championship standings to eighth overall, ahead of the absent Alex Summers. Having survived a violent tank-slapper in his turbocharged GR59 at the first bend during Saturday’s practice, Paul Haimes improved after scoring the final point in the wet on Sunday to close in on Jack Cottrill for eighth place in the afternoon, edging Dave Uren down to ninth. With Les Mutch a non-starter and Will Hall failing to finish, a delighted Aaron Colbourne, who had made the cut each time in his Zetec powered Formula Ireland Van Diemen, scored his first British point with tenth place.
          With Doune also hosting the opening two rounds of the AET Turbos BHC Tin Top Challenge, each of which immediately preceded the BHC run-offs, it was business as usual for defending champion Simn Bainbridge, who threaded the big Audi V8 powered SBR Chrono up between the Doune barriers to take the win each time and go straight to the top of the Challenge table. But the sensation of the wet opening run-off was Tom Weaver. Having left their Empire Evo at home, Tom and father Richard brought along the family Citroen Saxo and both qualified, and in a superb performance in the little saloon, Tom led the rest of the field to finish in second place, well over three seconds clear of Jonathan Williamson’s Porsche 911.
          Sadly, Tom missed the afternoon run-off after a spin in qualifying across the Meadow. Having not run in the morning, it was left to Donald McCaskill’s Mitsubishi Evo 5 to take up the cudgels against Bainbridge and he closed to within threequarters of a second of the leader. However consistent running by ‘Manta Jock’ Ramsay in his familiar orange Vauxhall left the local man clear of Williamson with second place in the overall standings after round two.

Motorsport UK/Nova Motorsport British Hillclimb Championship, Doune

FTD: Sean Gould (4.0 Gould-Judd DB4 GR59BJ) 36.57s

Championship run-off, round 13: 1 Will Hall (4.0 Gould-Judd DB4 GR59J) 39.04s; 2 Gould 39.32s; 3 Wallace Menzies (3.3 Gould-Cosworth XD GR59M) 39.54s; 4 Jack Cottrill (2.7 DJ Dallara Cosworth XD) 40.77s; 5 David Warburton (1.6 Gould-Suzuki GR59) 41.67s; 6 Alex Coles (1.3s Force-Suzuki TA) 41.78s; 7 Dave Uren (3.5 Gould-NME GR55B) 41.98s; 8 Matthew Ryder (4.0 Gould-Judd DB4 GR59BJ) 42.01s; 9 Johnathen Varley (2.0 GWR Predator-TKD YV8) 42.12s; 10 Paul Haimes (1.3t Gould-Suzuki GR59) 42.18s; 11 Trevor Willis (3.2 OMS-RPE 28) 42.20s; 12 Aaron Colborne (2.0 Van Diemen-Zetec RF02FX) 44.03s.

Championship run-off, round 14: 1 Gould 36.57s; 2 Menzies 36.90s; 3 Willis 37.70s; 4 Warburton 38.01s; 5 Ryder 38.63s; 6 Coles 38.74s; 7 Cottrill 38.93s; 8 Haimes 39.10s; 9 Uren 39.31s; 10 Colbourne 43.54s; Hall DNF; Les Mutch (1.3t GWR Raptor 1-Suzuki) DNS.

British Hillclimb Championship positions after round 14: 1 Ryder 123pts; 2 Menzies 119; 3 Gould 93; 4 Hall 92; 5 Willis 61; 6 Cottrill 60; 7 Uren 48; 8 Coles 39; 9 Alex Summers 34; 10 Warburton 27; etc.

BHC Tin Top Challenge, round 1: 1 Simon Bainbridge (4.2t SBR Chrono-Audi V8) 51.00s: 2 Tom Weaver (1.6 Citroen Saxo VTS) 56.60s; 3 Jonathan Williamson (3.5 Porsche 911 Carrera) 59.95s; 4 Jock Ramsay (2.0 Opel Manta) 60.20s; 5 Richard Weaver (1.6 Citroen Saxo VTS) 60.70s; 6 John Wood (1.4 JSW Mini Classic) 60.77s; 7 John Mackenzie (1.6 Ford Cortina Lotus) 62.98s; 8 Laura Wardle (3.5 Porsche 911 Carrera) 61.18s; 9 Geoff Twemlow (2.4t Subaru Impreza) 64.59s; 10 Stuart Wood (1.4 JSW Mini Classic) 69.45s.

BHC Tin Top Challenge, round 2: 1 Bainbridge 47.00s; 2 Donald McCaskill (2.3t Mitsubishi Evo 3) 47.72s; 3 Ramsay 51.94s; 4 Stuart Wood 52.45s; 5 John Wood 54.03s; 6 Williamson 55.87s; 7 Richard Weaver 57.47s; 8 Twemlow 57.89s; 9 Mackenzie 59.53s; 10 Wardle 62.97s.

BHC Tin Top Challenge positions after round 2: 1 Bainbridge 20pts; 2 Ramsay 15; 3 Williamson 13; 4 John Wood 11; 5 Richard Weaver 10; 6= McCaskill and Tom Weaver 9; 8  Stuart Wood 8; 9 Mackenzie 6; 10 Twemlow 5; etc.


 

Sean Gould set the outright pace on a drying track (David Baxter)


Will Hall mastered wet conditions to take his second run-off win of the season (David Baxter)


Jack Cottrill challenged the leaders with another fourth place finish (David Baxter)


Defending Tin Top Challenge champ Simon Bainbridge opened his 2025 account with two more run-off wins (David Baxter)

RYDER AND SUMMERS LEVEL AT SHELSLEY

Event 6 at Shelsley Walsh on 08/06/2025
Despite having a laid back British Hillclimb season due to family commitments, Alex Summers showed that at the wheel of his DJ Firestorm-XD, he was still able to mix it with the very best in the sport during a hard fought duel with Matt Ryder at Shelsley Walsh. Summers won the opening run-off, taking his first win of the year by a tenth of a second from Ryder. Then in a stirring fight back in the afternoon shoot-out, on the last run of the day the Championship leader pulled back a narrow deficit as the run progressed with a rocket exit from Top Ess, snatching the win from Summers by just five hundredths and leaving both drivers sharing a 23.01s FTD with identical run-off winning times. With his wife Debbie also competing in the family AFS 4t-Cosworth and his 5-month old son Jack attending his first hillclimb, it had been a memorable day for the 2015 champion who now moved up to eighth place on the championship table. With just over half a second covering the first five in the opening run-off, Ryder increased his series lead over rival Wallace Menzies, who had finished fifth in the morning. But unhappy with his pace through the faster corners and with only a one place improvement in his Cosworth powered GR59, the 4-times champion was left with a twelve point deficit to the series leader by the end.
          Will Hall continued his best season yet with a strong third place in the opening shoot-out, a tenth clear of Sean Gould. For the second time this year the constructor had outqualified co-driver Ryder, who was thus at a slight disadvantage on new rear tyres, with no target to beat, and losing out to Summers by just over a tenth of a second. Both Gould and Menzies gained a place in the afternoon when Hall’s GR59-Judd slowed with paddle shift issues coming out of Kennel and staggered slowly to the finish, well out of the points, although he still maintained his Championship third place. After a wet practice session the previous day, the track stayed dry on Sunday and although grip was at a premium, with times a little down on the best seen at Shelsley, competition remained close throughout the field during the run-offs. Behind Menzies, Dave Uren managed to keep clear of Trevor Willis each time. Jack Cottrill closed to within a quarter of a second of Willis for seventh place in the second run-off, but having finished  out of the points before lunch, on his best BHC season to date he had to relinquish his fifth place on the table to the seasoned campaigner by the end of the day. Once again, young Alex Coles joined the elite twelve in Kelvin Broad’s supercharged Force TA and after denying Cottrill the final point in the morning by a hundredth, he moved up to eighth place in the afternoon ahead of the Predator-TKD of Johnathan Varley, who despite another dominant class-winning performance had missed out in qualifying for the opening run-off.
          Making his usual trip over from Malta to take part, with the car’s aerodynamicist Willem Toet looking on Zach Zammit stormed up Shelsley in the works Empire Wraith to deny David Warburton’s GR59 eighth place in the opening run-off, but the car was pushed away from the startline during second qualifying and withdrawn, so Zammit failed to make the second cut. That let in Graham Wynn’s Gould-Judd and the enthusiastic septuagenarian was able to grab the final point ahead of Stuart Sugden’s turbocharged GWR Raptor. Sharing the car with ebullient fellow Scot Les Mutch, Sugden had never previously qualified for a Shelsley run-off, despite a top ten finish in the 2022 Championship. This time, although finishing just out of the points each time, he had twice made the cut.

Motorsport UK/Nova Motorsport British Hillclimb Championship, Shelsley Walsh

FTD: Matthew Ryder (4.0 Gould-Judd DB4 GR59BJ) and Alex Summers (2.7 DJ Firestorm-Cosworth XD) 23.01s

Championship run-off, round 11: 1 Summers 23.01s; 2 Matthew Ryder (4.0 Gould-Judd DB4 GR59BJ) 23.13s; 3 Will Hall (4.0 Gould-Judd DB4 GR59J) 23.28s; 4 Sean Gould (4.0 Gould-Judd DB4 GR59BJ) 23.38s; 5 Wallace Menzies (3.3 Gould-Cosworth XD GR59M) 23.54s; 6 Dave Uren (3.5 Gould-NME GR55B) 23.86s; 7 Trevor Willis (3.2 OMS-RPE 28) 24.39s; 8 Zach Zammit (1.3t Empire Wraith-Suzuki) 24.64s; 9 David Warburton (1.6 Gould-Suzuki GR59) 24.69s; 10 Alex Coles (1.3s Force-Suzuki TA) 24.71s; 11 Jack Cottrill (2.7 DJ Dallara Cosworth XD) 24.72s; 12 Stuart Sugden (1.6t GWR Raptor 1-Suzuki) 24.99s.

Championship run-off, round 12: 1 Ryder 23.01s; 2 Summers 23.06s; 3 Gould 23.57s; 4 Menzies 23.61s; 5 Uren 23.99s; 6 Willis 24.11s; 7 Cottrill 24.35s; 8 Coles 24.43s; 9 Johnathen Varley (2.0 GWR Predator-TKD YV8) 24.76s; 10 Graham Wynn (4.0 Gould-Judd DB4 GRW59) 24.87s; 11 Sugden 25.04s; 12 Hall 64.00s.

British Hillclimb Championship positions after round 12: 1 Ryder 114pts; 2 Menzies 102; 3 Hall 82; 4 Gould 74; 5 Willis 53; 6 Cottrill 49; 7 Uren 42; 8 Summers 34; 9 Coles 29; 10 Paul Haimes 21; etc.

 

Alex Summers was back on top form, sharing top honours with the Championship leader (Stuart Wing)


Matt Ryderextended his series lead with his seventh win of the year (Stuart Wing)


On a disappointing day for Wallace Menzies, his Championship chase lost momentum ( Stuart Wing)


Stuart Sugden contested a Shelsley run-off for the first time (Stuart Wing)

RYDER ALL THE WAY

Event 5 at Gurston Down on 25/05/2025
With two decisive run-off wins and FTD on the second day of Gurston’s BHC double-header weekend, Matt Ryder matched Wallace Menzies’ performance of the previous day to extend his Championship lead over the Scot. Right back on the pace after the previous day’s defeat, his Gould GR59-Judd had benefited from a change of second gear overnight to counteract occasional gearshift issues, while Menzies was unable to match an on form Will Hall who, in his quest to stay with the two Championship leaders, finished second to Ryder each time. Menzies’ day-long battle with Sean Gould left them tied after the first run-off, with the constructor grabbing a 34 hundredths advantage in the afternoon to demote Menzies to fourth and maintain his strong fourth place on the Championship table. But at the sharp end, the Scot’s single point deficit to the series leader after the previous day’s meeting had increased to six points. With much brighter, though windier, weather than the day before, trap speeds by the top four were spectacular, especially in the closing run-off. All were well in excess of 140mph down into Hollow Bend while over the finish line they were in the mid 150s, no doubt aided by a strong tailwind on this high speed Wiltshire downland venue..
          Paul Haimes had another good day in the turbocharged GR59 with sixth place in the opening shoot-out behind the increasingly rapid Jack Cottrill, again right on the pace in his DJ Dallara XD. Haimes followed this up with a season’s best fifth place, reversing their positions in the afternoon. Currently ninth on the series table, Haimes is on course to improve on his slow start to the season, although Cottrill is now in a strong fifth place in his best year so far. In a change from Saturday’s schedule there was just one practice run in the morning and the first run-off was held before lunch, when Trevor Willis was relieved to get back on the weekend’s scoreboard with seventh place. Despite the afternoon run-off being held in some of the best conditions of the day, Willis slipped to eighth in the afternoon, two hundredths adrift of Dave Uren, who had just missed the earlier cut in his Gould-NME. Johnathen Varley was again flying in the 2-litre Predator-TKD, running eighth behind Willis in the opening run-off. But even with a time – unofficially of course – well inside Willis’s 20-year-old class record, he slumped to twelfth in the closing run-off on an afternoon which saw the second half of the field set times far quicker than their morning runs.
          Following Saturday’s problems with the Firestorm XD, Alex Summers had returned to Gurston with his V6 Cosworth powered AFS P4t. Running just out of the points ahead of Dave Warburton’s GR59 in the morning, the 2015 champion brought his self-built car home in a scoring ninth place in the afternoon, ahead of the man who had earlier held the place, Alex Coles. After taking the final point before lunch, Graham Wynn’s GR59-Judd was eased out of a points scoring position by Coles’ supercharged Force TA in the final run-off of the weekend.

Motorsport UK/Nova Motorsport British Hillclimb Championship, Gurston Down

FTD: Matthew Ryder (4.0 Gould-Judd DB4 GR59BJ) 25.57s

Championship run-off, round 9: 1 Ryder 25.57s; 2 Will Hall (4.0 Gould-Judd DB4 GR59J) 26.04s; 3= Sean Gould (4.0 Gould-Judd DB4 GR59BJ) 26.16s; 3= Wallace Menzies (3.3 Gould-Cosworth XD GR59M) 26.16s; 5 Jack Cottrill (2.7 DJ Dallara Cosworth XD) 26.97s; 6 Paul Haimes (1.3t Gould-Suzuki GR59) 27.89s; 7 Trevor Willis (3.2 OMS-RPE 28) 28.01s; 8 Johnathen Varley (2.0 GWR Predator-TKD YV8) 28.18s; 9 Alex Coles (1.3s Force-Suzuki TA) 28.26s; 10 Graham Wynn (4.0 Gould-Judd DB4 GRW59) 28.33s; 11 Alex Summers (2.5 AFS P4t- Cosworth/Opel V6) 28.51s; 12 David Warburton (1.6 Gould-Suzuki GR59) 28.55s.

Championship run-off, round 10: 1 Ryder 25.69s; 2 Hall 25.90s; 3 Gould 25.91s; 4 Menzies 26.25s; 5 Haimes 26.95s; 6 Cottrill 27.08s; 7 Dave Uren (3.5 Gould-NME GR55B) 27.32s; 8 Willis 27.34s; 9 Summers 27.62s; 10 Coles 27.65s; 11 Wynn 27.82s; 12 Varley 27.90s.      

British Hillclimb Championship positions after round 10: 1 Ryder 95pts; 2 Menzies 89; 3 Hall 74; 4 Gould 59; 5 Cottrill 45; 6 Willis 44; 7 Uren 31; 8 Coles 25; 9 Haimes 21; 10 Summers 15; etc.


 

Matt Ryder extended his series lead with another dominant performance (Matt Willis)


With two second place finishes, Will Hall kept his Gould firmly in the title chase (Matt Willis)


After a problematic Saturday, Trevor Willis was back in the points the following day (Matt Willis)


Alex Summers wheeled out the AFS P4t after Saturday's problems with the Firestorm (Matt Willis)

MENZIES CLOSES THE GAP

Event 4 at Gurston Down on 24/05/2025
With two run-off wins and FTD on the first day of Gurston Down’s British Championship double-header weekend, Wallace Menzies closed to within a single point of series leader Matt Ryder, who chased him hard on successive run-offs despite a repetition of the Gould-Judd’s gearshift glitch. Third each time, Sean Gould had his best day of the season so far in the GR59 shared with Ryder, outpacing his co-driver to qualify top for the opening run-off. He ran clear of Will Hall’s similar chassis each time, moving up to a strong fourth place on the Championship table by close of play.
          Going from strength to strength this season in his DJ Dallara XD, Jack Cottrill took fifth and sixth places respectively, edged out by Dave Uren in the second shoot-out. The Gould-NME driver had oil pressure problems during the opener and finished last, but putting a bit more oil in the tank solved the problem, at least temporarily, enabling him to bag fifth place behind Hall in the late afternoon. Paul Haimes was back on form after early season diff issues with the turbocharged, bike-engined GR59, starting the day with a top six finish, his best of the year by far, to keep rapid classmate Alex Coles at bay in the supercharged Force-Suzuki TA in successive run-offs, although with Uren’s more competitive showing in the second shoot-out they both dropped a place. Johnathen Varley’s pace in the 2-litre Predator YV8 earned eight place in the opening shoot-out, ahead of Dave Warburton’s normally aspirated GR59-Suzuki, but Warburton finished just out of the points second time up, while Varley failed to even make the cut.
          Second to Warburton during the class runs, Andy Greenen qualified for both run-offs in hs Empire Evo 3, chasing home his rival to bag the final point in the first shoot-out. He was joined in the second run-off by his brother Adam, who promptly relieved him of that tenth position to leave both Andy and Dave Warburton out of the points. Graham Wynn, overseen as ever by Scott Moran, finished just out of the points in the opening run-off, but  bounced back later in his GR59-Judd for tenth place and his first score of the year. Notable absentees from the run-off contenders were Alex Summers and Trevor Willis. After electrical problems had struck Summers’ DJ Firestorm during practice, he returned home to pick up his AFS P4t V6 for the following day’s event. It was an unusually bad day for Willis, who struggled for grip in the cold and slippery conditions early on in his OMS V8 and failed to make the first cut. Later, during second qualifying, he lost time by taking to the grass at the bottom of Karousel and missed the second cut as well.

Motorsport UK/Nova Motorsport British Hillclimb Championship, Gurston Down

FTD: Wallace Menzies (3.3 Gould-Cosworth XD GR59M) 26.44s

Championship run-off, round 7: 1 Menzies 26.75s; 2 Matthew Ryder (4.0 Gould-Judd DB4 GR59BJ) 26.92s; 3 Sean Gould (4.0 Gould-Judd DB4 GR59BJ) 26.95s; 4 Will Hall (4.0 Gould-Judd DB4 GR59J) 27.33s; 5 Jack Cottrill (2.7 DJ Dallara Cosworth XD) 28.15s; 6 Paul Haimes (1.3t Gould-Suzuki GR59) 28.19s; 7 Alex Coles (1.3s Force-Suzuki TA) 28.32s; 8 Johnathen Varley (2.0 GWR Predator-TKD YV8) 28.76s; 9 David Warburton (1.6 Gould-Suzuki GR59) 29.00s; 10 Andy Greenen (1.6 Empire Evo 3-Suzuki) 29.22s; 11 Graham Wynn (4.0 Gould-Judd DB4 GRW59) 29.27s; 12 Dave Uren (3.5 Gould-NME GR55B) 30.10s.

Championship run-off, round 8: 1 Menzies 26.44s; 2 Ryder 26.55s; 3 Gould 26.69s; 4 Hall 26.78s; 5 Uren 27.33s; 6 Cottrill 27.53s; 7 Haimes 27.58s; 8 Coles 27.99s; 9 Wynn 28.14s; 10 Adam Greenen (1.6 Empire Evo 3-Suzuki) 28.57s; 11 Warburton 28.58s; 12 Andy Greenan 28.77.
         
British Hillclimb Championship positions after round 8: 1 Ryder 75pts; 2 Menzies 74; 3 Hall 56; 4 Gould 43; 5 Willis 37; 6 Cottrill 34; 7 Uren 27; 8 Coles 22; 9 Alex Summers 13; 10 Warburton 12; etc.

 

A double win brought Menzies to within a single point of Championship leader Ryder (Matt Willis)


Sean Gould was flying, outqualifying Ryder for the opening run-off (Matt Willis)


An on form Jack Cottrill challenged the leading quartet in the first shoot-out (Matt Willis)


In his duel with Cottrill, Paul Haimes also closed in on the top four (Matt Willis)

A WIN FOR WALLACE

Event 3 at Harewood on 11/05/2025
After a difficult season in 2024, Wallace Menzies took the opening run-off win with FTD on a warm day of British Championship hillclimbing at Harewood. With Wallace and his Tom New prepared Gould-XD now right back on form, the win marked the quadruple champion’s first in a British run-off since July 2023. Series leader Matt Ryder could only close to within 13 hundredths for second place in the opening run-off, chased hard by his co-driver and the GR59BJ’s constructor Sean Gould, who left Will Hall half a second adrift in fourth place. With limited stocks of Nova/Avon tyres (more are due later in the year) becoming an issue on a hot day at the abrasive Harewood track and ‘double driver’ Gould, as is so often the case, the first car away in the run-off each time, Matt Ryder was at a disadvantage running last on the same tyres, despite efforts to cool them in the interim. In the closing run-off, a tyre change between their runs paid off. Running last but one, before top qualifier Menzies, hill record-holder Ryder clocked a day’s best 131mph up Quarry Straight during an all-out effort to take the lead. Menzies’ reply fell three tenths short and Ryder took his fourth win of the year, maintaining his three point Championship lead over the Scot.
            On this third weekend of what has already been an ultra-close fought series this year, Will Hall, tied for Menzies in second place on the table coming to the Yorkshire venue, ran half a second adrift of the hard charging Gould in the opening stanza. But worse was to come. After spinning his Gould under braking at the blind Country Corner during qualifying, Hall’s failure to make the second run-off dropped him to a Championship third place, twelve points behind Menzies.
          With his press-on technique making spectacular viewing for live stream followers via Rich Danby’s on-board camera, Trevor Willis twice held off the chasing Jack Cottrill’s DJ Dallara XD, finishing sixth in the opener and a season’s best third place in the closing run-off. After running two tenths adrift of Cottrill in the opening run-off, Dave Uren had problems in the second one, running a shade too hot into the long righthander at Chippy’s where, with a squeal of tyres, his venerable Gould-NME ran wide. He slowed, touring up to finish out of the points. Alex Coles is flying this year in Kelvin Broad’s Force TA turbo, and the Plymouth youngster tied with the ever rapid Dave Warburton’s normally aspirated Gould GR59 for eighth place in the opening run-off behind Uren and six more V8s. Uren’s mistake later on promoted Coles to seventh, despite his slightly slower time, but Warburton found a fraction more to leapfrog them both into sixth place behind Gould.
           Johnathen Varley improved from an earlier tenth place in his Predator-TKD for eighth place, but Tom Weaver’s 1100cc class winning Empire-Suzuki lay only three hundredths behind the double Midland and BH Cup champion. Class rival Stuart Bickley followed him home, and despite his Force TA slowing with a problem at Farmhouse, both 1100s finished in the points ahead of Uren and Paul Haimes, who had also slowed dramatically and toured up after problems with his GR59 turbo on his sole run-off shot of the weekend.

Motorsport UK/Nova Motorsport British Hillclimb Championship, Harewood

FTD: Wallace Menzies (3.3 Gould-Cosworth XD GR59M) 47.40s

Championship run-off, round 5: 1 Menzies 47.40s; 2 Matthew Ryder (4.0 Gould-Judd DB4 GR59BJ) 47.53s; 3 Sean Gould (4.0 Gould-Judd DB4 GR59BJ) 48.38s; 4 Will Hall (4.0 Gould-Judd DB4 GR59J) 48.83s; 5 Trevor Willis (3.2 OMS-RPE 28) 48.85s; 6 Jack Cottrill (2.7 DJ Dallara Cosworth XD) 49.50s; 7 Dave Uren (3.5 Gould-NME GR55B) 49.70s; 8= Alex Coles (1.3s Force-Suzuki TA) 50.16s; 8= David Warburton (1.6 Gould-Suzuki GR59) 50.16s; 10 Johnathen Varley (2.0 GWR Predator-TKD YV8) 50.50s; 11 Tom Weaver (1.0 Empire Evo2-Suzuki) 50.92s;
12 Stuart Bickley (1.1 Force-Suzuki TA) 51.38s.

Championship run-off, round 6: 1 Ryder 47.49s; 2 Menzies 47.81s; 3 Willis 49.28s; 4 Cottrill 49.67s; 5 Gould 49.87s; 6 Warburton 50.01s; 7 Coles 50.37s; 8 Varley 50.66s; 9 Weaver 50.69s;
10 Bickley 58.12s; 11 Uren 67.02s; 12 Paul Haimes (1.3t Gould-Suzuki GR59) 80.75s.

British Hillclimb Championship positions after round 6: 1 Ryder 57pts; 2 Menzies 54; 3 Hall 42; 4 Willis 37; 5 Gould 27; 6 Cottrill 23; 7 Uren 21; 8 Coles 15; 9 Alex Summers 13; 10 Warburton 10; etc.

 

Wallace Menzies was back on the winner's rostrum for the first time since mid-2023 (Steve Wilkinson


Sean Gould backed up co-driver Matt Ryder with third place in the opening run-off (Steve Wilkinson)


Trevor Willis lies a clear fourth on the Championship table (Steve Wilkinson)


Tom Weaver brought his 1100cc Empire home ninth in the second run-off (Steve Wilkinson)

RYDER'S ULSTER DOUBLE

Event 2 at Craigantlet on 03/05/2025
Matt Ryder took sole charge of this year’s British Hillclimb Championship title chase on the series’ annual visit to Northern Ireland, taking both run-off wins and FTD on Belfast’s high speed Craigantlet road course. In complete contrast to last year’s wet abandoned event, sunny skies and warm conditions greeted competitors in organisers Ulster Automobile Club’s Centenary year and the defending champion closed to within 0.21sec of the hill record jointly held by Scott Moran and Dave Uren. This time though, Uren had to settle for two fourth place run-off finishes in his faithful ex.Groves Gould-NME V8. In a duel between the two oldest cars competing in the BHC at top level, Trevor Willis and the OMS-RPE upped their pace for a tie with Uren in the afternoon shootout.
          But as at Prescott a week earlier, the main challenge to Ryder came from Will Hall and Wallace Menzies, who swapped places behind the leader in successive run-offs. Once again, competition was fierce as with nine hundredths having covered the top three in the Cotswolds, that was the margin between first and second places on consecutive run-offs in Ulster. Hall was the first to take the runner-up spot, but in the afternoon he had to concede the placing to Menzies by twelve hundredths, so they both left the Province tied for second place on the Championship table, three points behind the series leader.
          Although a number of regular BHC contenders had opted to spend the weekend on home turf at Shelsley’s Midland Championship rounds, Jack Cottrill was not among them, making the Irish Sea crossing for the first time. After bringing his smaller capacity Cosworth XD powered DJ Dallara home in sixth place each time, he returned to the mainland having moved up to eighth place on the Championship table. Behind him, local man Tim Woodside and Scot Stuart Sugden duelled for seventh place each time, the Ulsterman’s ex. Coley brothers’ GR55 V6 securing the place in the opening run-off before a fine effort by Sugden found another threequarters of a second to grab the advantage in the afternoon run-off. His Raptor-Suzuki, co-driven by fellow Scot Les Mutch who also made the cut each time although finishing just out of the points, had benefited with some engine work after problems at Prescott a week earlier.
          With Darren Gumbley opting for Shelsley, a fine drive by another Craigantlet newcomer saw Jonathan Flesher lower the 1600cc Force TA driver’s class record on each run in his 1-litre OMS-Suzuki, qualifying twice in the process and finishing ninth in the opening run-off ahead of Nicola Menzies’ V8 Gould, shared as ever with Dave Uren. In the closing run-off Jonathan couldn’t quite match his earlier pace and Nicola slipped ahead by four hundredths to demote him to the single point. Rounding off the twelve each time was yet another Craigantlet first-timer, Aaron Colbourne, making his British run-off debut in the Ford Zetec powered, Formula Ireland Van Diemen.

Motorsport UK/Nova Motorsport British Hillclimb Championship, Craigantlet

FTD: Matthew Ryder (4.0 Gould-Judd DB4 GR59BJ) 39.33s.

Championship run-off, round 3: 1 Ryder 39.67s; 2 Will Hall (4.0 Gould-Judd DB4 GR59J) 39.76s; 3 Wallace Menzies (3.3 Gould-Cosworth XD GR59M) 40.01s; 4 Dave Uren (3.5 Gould-NME GR55B) 40.38s; 5 Trevor Willis (3.2 OMS-RPE 28) 40.41s; 6 Jack Cottrill (2.7 DJ Dallara Cosworth XD) 42.90s; 7 Tim Woodside (2.5 Gould-Cosworth V6 GR55) 42.92s; 8 Stuart Sugden (1.6t GWR Raptor 1-Suzuki) 43.10s; 9 Jonathan Flesher (1.0 OMS-Suzuki 28) 43.55s; 10 Nicola Menzies (3.5 Gould-NME GR55B) 44.07s; 11 Les Mutch (1.3t GWR Raptor 1-Suzuki) 45.28s; 12 Aaron Colborne (2.0 Van Diemen-Zetec RF02FX) 45.57s.

Championship run-off, round 4: 1 Ryder 39.33s; 2 Wallace Menzies 39.42s; 3 Hall 39.54s; 4= Willis 40.22s; 4= Uren 40.22s; 6 Cottrill 41.86s; 7 Sugden 42.32s; 7 Woodside 42.71s; 8 Nicola Menzies 43.73s; 10 Flesher 43.77s; 11 Mutch 44.01s; 12 Colbourne 44.82s.

British Hillclimb Championship positions after round 4: 1 Ryder 38pts; 2= Hall and Menzies 35; 4 Willis 23; 5 Uren 17; 6= Sean Gould and Alex Summers 13; 8 Cottrill 11; 9 Alex Coles 8; 10= Sugden and Woodside 7; etc.


 

Matt Ryder's double win established a clear Championship lead (Bill Swann)


Will Hall posted a strong challenge once again (Bill Swann)


Jack Cottrill took two sixth places on his first Craigantlet visit (Bill Swann)


Ulsterman Tim Woodside challenged the BHC big hitters (Bill Swann)

CLOSE FOUGHT PRESCOTT OPENER

Event 1 at Prescott on 27/04/2025
Will Hall ended a two year drought of British run-off wins with the narrowest possible victory in his Gould-Judd GR59 at Prescott’s opening British Championship run-off of the year. Right back on top form in his Cosworth XD powered version, Wallace Menzies lost out to Hall by a hundredth of a second, keeping Matt Ryder’s Gould-Judd at bay by a further eight hundredths in an ultra-close top three. The defending British champion’s understeering moment at the long, off-camber Ettores Bend, plus a gearshift glitch, almost certainly cost him the win, but by modifying his gearshift technique in the second run-off he made up for it with FTD, beating Menzies to the top spot by almost half a second as Hall chased hard for third place, a tenth adrift of the 4-times champion. With all three leaving Prescott tied in the lead of the Championship, a hard fought and competitive season seems assured.
          Family commitments will be restricting Alex Summers to relatively local events this year in his AFS P4t, but with the self-built car awaiting an engine installation he wheeled out his faithful DJ Firestorm for Prescott to share with his mother Lindsay. Finishing fifth behind Sean Gould in the opening run-off, he edged out the GR59’s constructor in the second stanza for fourth place, seven hundredths behind Hall.
          Trevor Willis rounded off the top six each time in his OMS-RPE ahead of Alex Coles. The young driver’s supercharged Force-Suzuki led home Midland and BH Cup double champion Johnathen Varley’s Predator V6 in the opening run-off, while two hundredths further back was Zach Zammit, his Empire Wraith’s floor and rear wing repaired after a nudge with the scenery during practice, with the car’s constructor Bill Chaplin and its designer Willem Toet in attendance. Zammit and Paul Haimes, his GR59 also running a turbocharged Suzuki engine, were the only run-off contenders running the new Hoosier tyres all round although some drivers, such as Summers, were experimenting with Hoosiers on the front and Avons on the back.
          In the second shoot-out, another seventh place for Coles headed a tremendous mid-field battle which saw four cars covered by just five hundredths of a second. Dave Uren, who had failed to make the earlier cut, brought his ex.Groves GR55B home within two hundredths of Coles’ Force. Then David Warburton, who had spun out of the opening run-off at Pardon with too much rear brake bias, corrected later, ran a further two hundredths adrift in his GR59-Suzuki to hold off final points scorer Jack Cottrill’s DJ Dallara XD by a hundredth. Having scraped home for the final point in the opening run-off, Haimes just failed to score.
          Two runners from the ever competitive 1100cc racing class made the run-off cut, one on each occasion, eventual class winner Tom Weaver and the man who chased him home in the 19-strong class, Stuart Bickley. But after a big slide at Pardon in his Empire Evo 2 during the first run-off, Weaver finished out of the points, as did Bickley later in the afternoon.

Motorsport UK/Nova Motorsport British Hillclimb Championship, Prescott

FTD: Matthew Ryder (4.0 Gould-Judd DB4 GR59BJ) 35.38s

Championship run-off, round 1: 1 Will Hall (4.0 Gould-Judd DB4 GR59J) 35.71s; 2 Wallace Menzies (3.3 Gould-Cosworth XD GR59M) 35.72s; 3 Matthew Ryder (4.0 Gould-Judd DB4 GR59BJ) 35.80s; 4 Sean Gould (4.0 Gould-Judd DB4 GR59BJ) 36.04s; 5 Alex Summers (2.7 DJ Firestorm-Cosworth XD) 36.45s; 6 Trevor Willis (3.2 OMS-RPE 28) 36.55s; 7 Alex Coles (1.3s Force-Suzuki TA) 37.28s; 8 Johnathen Varley (2.0 GWR Predator-TKD YV8) 37.36s; 9 Zach Zammit (1.3t Empire Wraith-Suzuki) 37.38s; 10 Paul Haimes (1.3t Gould-Suzuki GR59) 37.60s;
11 Tom Weaver (1.0 Empire Evo2-Suzuki) 38.59s; David Warburton (1.6 Gould-Suzuki GR59) DNF

Championship run-off, round 2: 1 Ryder 35.38s; 2 Menzies 35.83s; 3 Hall 35.92s; 4 Summers 35.99s; 5 Gould 36.18s; 6 Willis 36.36s; 7 Coles 37.03s; 8 Dave Uren (3.5 Gould-NME GR55B) 37.05s; 9 Warburton 37.07s; 10 Jack Cottrill (2.7 DJ Dallara Cosworth XD) 37.08s; 11 Haimes 37.37s; 12 Stuart Bickley (1.1 Force-Suzuki TA 38.52s.

British Hillclimb Championship positions after round 2: 1= Hall, Menzies and Ryder 18pts; 4= Gould and Summers 13; 6 Willis 10; 7 Coles 8; 8= Uren and Varley 3; 10= Warburton and Zammit 2; etc.

 
 

Will Hall won the opening run-off, his first for two years (Stuart Wing)


Matt Ryder set the overall pace despite gearshift issues (Stuart Wing)


Wallace Menzies and his Gould XD were back on top form with two second places (Stuart Wing)


Alex Coles harried the big hitters each time in his turbocharged Force TA (Stuart Wing)