Rounds 3 & 4: Sunday 26th April - Prescott Hillclimb nr Cheltenham

Martin Groves took two wins over Scott Moran and is now a tight two points in front after threatened rain held off at Prescott.  Groves was pleased with his improved start to the season in comparison with 2007 and 2008 and was delighted to have a successful weekend, despite a couple of gearbox issues that affected co-driver Paul Ranson who missed a gear immediately after the start in the first run-off.

Scott Moran just managed to hang on to second place despite a scrappy second run off and was able to keep Trevor Willis at bay. Willis had gathered momentum after his Loton Park six-pointer and both he and Chris Merrick are right behind Deryk Young who just holds on to third in the table with Jos Goodyear also in the mix.

Goodyear suffered a shocker when his engine went off-song in the first qualifying runs. A pair of wet spark plugs were found to be the cause and he came back to take a fifth place in round four.

A notable scorer was veteran Rob Turnbull who has been on the Championship scene since the 1970's. He had a massive crash at Wiscombe Park three years ago and after recovering from the resulting broken femur the car's ex F1 Cosworth HB motor has not run satisfactorily. A winter rebuild has worked wonders and he scored his first MSA points for over two seasons with the car sounding magnificent.

Results - Round 3

1 Martin Groves (3.5 Gould-NME GR55) 37.14s; 2 Scott Moran (3.5 Gould-NME GR61X) 37.45s; 3 Trevor Willis (2.8 OMS-Powertec) 37.78s; 4 Chris Merrick (4.0 Gould-Judd EV GR55) 37.80s; 5 Roger Moran (3.5 Gould-NME GR61X) 38.47s; 6 Tom New (4.0 Gould-Judd EV GR55) 38.62s; 7 Deryk Young (4.0 Gould-Judd GR51B) 38.83s; 8 Mark Coley (2.5 Gould-Opel GR55) 38.83s; 9 Eynon Price (1.6 Force Suzuki PC) 39.05s; 10 Steve Owen (1.6 OMS- Suzuki CF07) 39.49s; 11 Will Hall (1.6 Force-Suzuki PC) 39.53s; 12 Paul Ranson (3.5 Gould-NME GR55) 39.54s.

Results - Round 4

1 Groves 37.02s Fastest Time of the Day; 2 Scott Moran 37.50s; 3 Willis 37.65s;  4 Merrick 37.91s; 5 Goodyear 38.20s; 6 Young 38.64s; 7 New 38.89s; 8 Ranson 38.94s; 9 Rob Turnbull (3.5 Gould-Cosworth HB GR55) 39.06s; 10 Paul Haimes (2.0 Dallara-Opel F301) 39.29s; 11 Coley 39.44s; 12 Owen 39.64s.

Championship:

1 Groves 40;

2 Scott Moran 38pts;

3 Young 24pts;

4 Merrick 23pts;

5 Willis 22pts;

6 Goodyear 21pts;

7 Roger Moran 14pts;

8 New 18pts;

9 Ranson 9pts;

10 Haimes 6pts.