With an incredible 22.71sec run Martin Groves sensationally broke the outright record at the historic Shelsley Walsh hill in the first of the days run-offs and jumped from 5th to 3rd position in the MSA British Hill Climb Championship whilst taking a near maximum 21 points from the weekend. The record, which earned Groves an extra point, was a surprise to all championship followers and the winning driver seemed almost bemused by his performance saying "Things have really gone our way today and I put some of it down to a new set of tyres." His co-driver Paul Ranson had a great weekend after recent disappointment as he took 3rd place in each run off to get his own challenge back on track and was behind series leader Scott Moran both times. The Groves/Ranson weekend had looked shaky early on practice day as they had an electronic fault which required a replacement engine module
At the accepted 'power hill' the championship 3rd place holder Trevor Willis was at a disadvantage with his OMS with its small bike derived V8 and settled for 8 points from his pair of 7th places but now has Groves only one point behind him.
There was another stand out performance from Robert Kenrick who qualified both times in the tiny bike-powered Force and he came away with a pair of points against much larger opposition.
Class records were broken too. The dynamic Brodie Branch further reduced his current 1100 to 1600cc racing car class record to 26.09sec driving his shared Force-Suzuki. Simon Bridge reduced his established Classic Saloon and Sports Car record to 30.61 in his Lotus Seven and holds both the Saloon and Sports car elements of the class. The Ferrari Hill Climb Championship class record was broken by David Tomlin in his F355 GTB with a 33.92sec climb.
A class of Shelsley Specials took to the hill and Karl Schollar was fastest on scratch in his tiny six-wheeled Spectre Mk7. The class was followed with a demonstration run by Dave Andrews in the late John Bolster's immortal 'Bloody Mary' special.
At the start of the days proceedings, Officials, Members and Spectators observed one minutes silence in memory of the recently deceased Reg Phillips who was a Shelsley stalwart for over six decades. This was followed by the noise of one of his former cars, the Fairley Mercury, blasting away from the start line.
The next Shelsley event takes place on the weekend of the 5th and 6th July with the Reg Phillips Memorial Trophy Meeting on Saturday with rounds of the Lotus 7, Midland Speed, Ginetta and motorcycle championships. On Sunday is the popular annual MAC Vintage meeting with the Vintage Sports Car Club.
