All the big names were back for the new year of competition although Will Hall, narrowly beaten for the title last year at the final round by Trevor Willis, was in Graham Wynn’s spare car after engine problems in testing. Normal service will, it is understood, be resumed shortly …

It’s not just about the “top” class though with the smaller bike engine cars snapping at the heels of their larger engine competitors with Robert Kenrick, Eynon Price and Matt Ryder (of whom more later) among those leading the charge.

For this report, I will largely be concentrating on the Top 12 Run Off contenders, but I have posted a wider range of photos on my Flickr account. For newbies, as I was a couple of years ago, the quickest 12 from qualifying, regardless of class, run off for British Championship points each weekend. With morning and afternoon qualifying sessions, it means two lots of Run Off action (which is a good thing !).

Having undertaken only a limited season in 2018, Scott Moran still managed to finish 10th overall and secured a prized top ten number for this year. Loton Park is his local hill and he holds the outright quickest time there so it was no surprise to find him heading the times at the end of the morning Run Off beating Wallace Menzies by 0.39 seconds.

Robert Kenrick in his 999cc BMW engine GWR Raptor was setting very quick times in qualifying but set no time in the Run Off when a dislodged front wing meant that he went straight on at Museum Corner.

Notable from Run Off 1 was Matt Ryder getting a 6th place in his 1600cc Empire Evo2. Matt is a third generation hillclimber and shares the car with his mother Caroline. Caroline’s father was a long time competitor in hillclimbs and sprints and in 1982 was British Sprint Champion. There’s clearly something in the genes; late last year Matt travelled to Gorbio in Italy for the FIA European Masters and won the Best Young Driver award.

For the second run at Loton Park, Menzies turned the tables on Moran and took the win by 0.4 seconds from Alex Summers. Moran managed 4th quickest time whilst Matt gained the final point available for 10th. Richard Spedding was on for a superb result but fell foul of new rules for this year that impose a penalty for dislodging a corner marker.

Reflecting on the day, Matt said – “Over the winter we made changes to the front and rear dampers and this meant that, together with the new compound Avon tyres, we had to quickly learn and adapt the set up the car. I was really happy to finish 6th and 10th in the first two British Hillclimb run offs of the season and take 2nd in class”.

Move on a week and the weather for Prescott for Rounds 3 and 4 was cooler and damp on Saturday with a “green” course. A huge field of 200 plus cars meant that time was tight for practice, qualifying and Top 12 Run Off in the morning - especially if there were delays due to incidents.

There were incidents so a late lunch was taken - in part as a result of this indiscretion at Semi Circle for Ben Hamer.

The Top 12 Run Off was populated by all the usual suspects and Moran again made the top spot just 0.04 seconds ahead of Richard Spedding. The top six competitors were covered by 0.43 seconds.

Matt failed to make the Top 12 by the fractions of a second for which this discipline is renowned. More significantly, 2018 champion Trevor Willis ran very slightly wide on the exit of Pardon Hairpin and tangled with the tyre barriers – ending that run and his day’s sport.

In the afternoon Run Off, Moran improved his morning time by 0.01 seconds, but this was only good for 4th as times fell overall. Wallace Menzies again took the afternoon win with a time 0.05 seconds ahead of Dave Uren with Spedding 0.01 seconds behind in third. Them’s narrow margins !

This time, Matt made the Top 12 but 11th best time meant he was outside the points. He said afterwards “For the second British and Midland Hillclimb championship event we were at Prescott where we found it more difficult to get the car set up how we wanted it, particularly for the tight Pardon corner. I was disappointed not to score points in the British Championship run offs but happy to finish second in class once again.”

So, after Loton Park and Prescott and with two wins apiece, Menzies had a narrow three point lead over Moran but there’s a long way to go yet this year. Matt Ryder is down in 11th – second of the 1600s by just one point.

Matt was at Shelsley Walsh for the spring Midland Championship round and reports that “further work on the set up and the practice runs gave us the opportunity to find a good set up for the venue. We qualified well up the order and I was very pleased to qualify third for both run offs, finishing with a 3rd and 4th overall and, once again, second in my class.”

Competing needs to take a back seat for a few weeks, however for Matt who is studying Automotive Engineering at Loughborough and has finals in May. He aims to be back behind the wheel for the Midland Championship round at Loton Park in early June. We will hear more from Matt as the year progresses.