Top hill climbers out in championship challenge

Driving his supercharged 1400cc GWR Raptor, Goodyear broke the 2000cc class record and also set Best Time of Day with a run of 22.86 seconds to win himself the 'Man of the Meeting' award, going on to win the afternoon run-off and gain ten championship points.

Jos said: "To win my first run-off here at Shelsley Walsh - the home of hill climbing - and in front of so many people in simply awesome and I cannot thank my support team enough for the help they give me. The car ran like it was on rails and I was so very close to taking the outright hill record."

Reigning British champion Scott Moran won the morning's run-off and extended his lead over 2012 champion Trevor Willis who could only manage 5^th place in both run-offs, while Midlands driver Will Hall, having his best season to date in his Force WH, took third place in both events.

Scott commented: "It has been an excellent weekend and I am more than happy with the points gained for my first and second places. We go to Gurston Down next weekend and that is a track that suits our car, but we all know that Trevor is an extremely determined competitor and will not give up, so everything is still to play for."

Veteran driver and 1997 British champion Roger Moran, of Ludlow, who shares the family Gould GR61X with Scott, chose the weekend to announce his retirement from the large capacity racing car class and his seat will be taken next year by young driver Alex Summers, of Tenbury Wells, who has been campaigning a DJ Firehawk with great success this season.

Championship sponsor Paul Matty driving his Lotus Type 35 F2 took the honours himself in Class Q2 of the Paul Matty Lotus Sports Cars Championship, while Geoff Stallard in a Lotus Elan S3 won Q1 Class.

Richard Jones in a Brabham BT29X, Richard Homer in an MGA 1600 and Rodney Eyles in a Pilbeam MP53 won sports, saloons and racing cars for classes up to years 1971,1975 and 1985, respectively.

The modified classes saw wins for Tim Dennis in a Rover Mini and Keith Murray in an Audi 80 Quattro, with current Midlands Hill Climb Championship leader Mike Turpin increasing his points lead with yet another win in his Vauxhall VX220.

Class record holder Rob Stevens won the Over 2000cc Sports Libre class, after having mechanical problems on his last few outings in his Force SR4, beating Graham Wynn, in his Force Sports LM01, with Mark Dempster in his Imagination PH1 winning the Up to 2000cc class.

Twenty four cars took part in the 1100cc racing car class but it was Coventry driver Chris Aspinall who won comfortably in the latest F1 designed high-tech Empire Wraith, built by renowned constructor Bill Chaplin, in Somerset. Richard Spedding in a Force PC won the 1600cc class beating OMS constructor Steve Owen into second place, with local woman Tina Hawkes taking third spot in her Force PC.

The historic class for 500cc cars driven my members of the 500 Owners' Association was won by Steve Lawrence in a Cooper Mk8 with a time of 39.28 and an Invitation Class for ERA cars celebrating their 80^th anniversary was won by David Morris in his ERA B Type in a time of 34.22.

First off the line in both morning and afternoon sessions were the roadgoing classes providing wins for Ken Williamson in his Lotus Elise S1, Roy Standley in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 5 RS and Simon Jenks in his Caterham Supersport.

Lunchtime saw a special gathering in the paddock where former champions and current racing car constructors got together for a photo call with names including Alastair Douglas-Osborne, David Grace, Martin Groves and Graeme Wight jnr.

Awards for run-offs, BTD and Man of the Meeting were made after the end of the meeting on the start line, by Mac Hulbert, owner of the iconic Shelsley Walsh racing car ERA R4D.