Round 4 of the Hillclimb
Championship took place at a warm and sunny Loton Park with the VSCC for
their most enjoyable 2 day meeting.
Practice on Saturday was hot and humid but the first runs produced no
surprises with regulars Alistair and John Dent setting the pace ahead of
James Holland with father and son team David and Thomas Docherty bringing up
the rear. On his second run John Dent spun at the tricky Fallow corner which
prevented any change in the order while Thomas was having his first run in
the family Cooper Mk IX for ten years and the gearbox broke in protest so
the spare had to be fitted for the next day's competition.
After a short spell of rain on Sunday morning the course dried in time for
the 500s. Alistair Dent in the Hornet was first to go up and set a very
respectable time of 67.43 secs. Father John with his newly refurbished
Cooper Mk VI recorded 68.96 secs and James Holland was a further second
behind with 69.80 secs. Thomas Docherty elected not to run and father David
set 77.54 seconds.
For the second runs the course was in more or less perfect condition and
Alistair Dent shaved a second of his time to stop the clock at 66.22 secs
for a clear win in the 500s and second overall by a mere hundredth of a
second to David White's Cooper Bristol. John Dent failed to record a time on
his second run so couldn't improve on his second place while James Holland
got down to 69.59 seconds to retain third. David Docherty also failed to
record a time on his second run. |