Nicholson McLaren Aviation MSA British Hillclimb Championship

Rounds 23 & 24 Craigantlet nr Belfast, 2nd August

Scott Moran took two wins plus the hill record but the big news was that Martin Groves never even got to line up for a practice run as his co-driver Paul Ranson suffered a gearbox failure whilst he lined up for his first practice very early in the proceedings. With Moran taking 21 points on the day and Groves now 63 points behind this may be too much of a mountain to climb.

Moran said: "I am very sorry for Martin. I want to beat him where it counts, on the hills, not because of mechanical failure".

With only six of the current top ten making the trip there was always the chance for lesser lights to shine and a glance at the results shows that Andrew Platt did just this. Unfortunately his co-driver the lanky DTA engine management guru Allan Warburton was taken to hospital with a mystery illness that left him barely able to speak, although he felt no discomfort and externally looked well enough. An ECG looked OK and further tests are to be carried out.

Round 23

1 Scott Moran (3.5 Gould-NME GR61) 40.57s; 2 Chris Merrick (4.0 Gould-Judd EV GR55) 41.46s; 3 Roger Moran (3.5 Gould-NME GR61) 41.78s; 4 Trevor Willis (2.8 OMS-Powertec) 42.43s; 5 Andrew Platt (2.0 Dallara

F397) 44.57s; 6 Will Loughridge (1.4 Force-Suzuki PT) 45.74s; 7 Tim Wilson (1.4 OMS-Suzuki CF04) 45.81s; 8 Will Hall (1.3 Force-Suzuki PC) 46.06s; 9 Mike Fitzsymons( 1.4 OMS-Suzuki CF04) 47.28s; Tom New (2.0 Pilbeam-Rover KV6 MP88) Fail.

Round 24

1 Scott Moran 39.63s Best Time of the Day and New Outright Hill Record;

2 Roger Moran 41.03s; 3 Merrick 41.55s; 4 Willis 41.71s; 5 Platt 44.48s;

6 Wilson 44.80s; 7 Loughridge 44.96s; 8 Hall 46.61s; 9 Fitzsymons 46.63s.