Whilst the racing boys were having fun at Brands Hatch the Hill Climb guys were having as much fun at Shelsley Walsh. There were 10 cars and 11 drivers and this week-end must the first time in many a year that three Starides were at the one meeting, the owners/drivers being Jan Nycz, Chris Bird and Darrell Woods. The competition was fierce from the off set as Alistair Dent queued up at the crack of dawn on Saturday (practice day) to be register as one of the first 30 to be able to get a third practice, none of our other 500 guys were so lucky.

Steve and Mike Lawrence had to dash off after first practice due to a family commitment and Tim Ross and Ted Sharpe called it a day after second practice and went home to return in the morning for their timed runs. All the other 500 drivers sat parched in the heat of the sun and watched Alistair drinking a beer after his third practice, but didn’t dare have a beer themselves as they waited to see if they were going to be lucky enough to get a third run. As it happened the day was warm and dry and not too many offs so every one of our drivers who wanted a third practice did in fact get one. Darrell changed his sprocket after his second practice and then after his third practice decided to change it back again!

Darrell Woods' Staride prepares. Pho Carol Woods.

Sunday was a glorious day and there were over 200 competitors and hundreds of spectators turned up, the largest crowd since 2005. So the paddock was buzzing with engines revving, people talking and cameras whirling. It was great to see Gerry Goodwin turn up to support our drivers.

Our guys were in batch four and our pushers, helpers and wives found it difficult to get on the fence at the start line due to so many spectators. The first timed runs over and everyone was studying the times and the split times to see where they could improve to catch the driver ahead of them. As usual Steve set the fastest time of 38.14 seconds, with Jan in second place and Mark Riley third. There was a considerable battle going on between Mike, John Dent and Darrell and Patrick Riley had his ever present smile on his face all week-end as he was thoroughly enjoying the location, the driving and the weather.

On the second run Steve stayed in the lead with a 37.86, not quite beating his record set in May this year of 37.38 and Mark jumped ahead of Jan into second place. See the results for everyone’s times. A thoroughly enjoyable week-end was had by all.

Results                                                                                

All very relaxed in pushers alley. Photo Carol Woods.