The final two rounds of the Meadens Skoda Gurston Down Hill Climb Championship took place at our September meeting. The overall championship was close and required so great performances to secure the title and top ten places.
The Class Championships were no different with many of them undecided prior to the meeting so every point in every round suddenly became very important. A number of class didn’t have championship contenders entered which meant the dropped score rules made a difference. These certainly did in the overall championship!
Thank you to all the entrants in the championship, we couldn’t run it without all your support!
We would also like to thank all of the class sponsors for their support during 2018!
The top five in each class have been included in these results. The full results will be available online after this have been published.
Here are the Official Class Results for the Meadens Skoda Gurston Down Championship:
The Mazda MX5 Class, supported by The Window Doctor
This class turned out to be the one to watch this season. Mark Crookall won the championship in this class and overall in 2017 and 2018 wasn’t any different. Jason Richardson pushed Mark all year, they swapped firsts and seconds, broke the target time and both broke the class record and traded places all season. But Mark’s performance in July where he reset the class record to 39.88s and his September, sealed both the overall and class championship. Jason’s late season performances brought him fourth in the overall championship too! That record time would be a good time for the up to 2000cc class and the MX5 Class allows limited modifications.
Mark win the Record-Designs Trophy.
| Result 2018 |
Points |
| Mark Crookall |
103 |
| Jason Richardson |
99 |
| Chris Burch |
77 |
| James Fordam |
71 |
| Paul Wheatley |
62 |
Road Going Series Production Class up to 1400cc
The two contenders in this class have traded places all season. John Davey has had a number of mechanical issues but the Midget was much improved in September when he reset the class record with a 41.21s run.
| Result 2018 |
Points |
| David Nutland |
86 |
| John Davey |
84 |
Road Going Series Production Class 1401cc to 2000cc, supported by Record-Designs
This class is another very competitive class. But Paul Dickinson pretty much stamped his authority of the class from the outset in his Honda S2000. But Tim Foster (Lotus Elan) and Dean Cubitt (Mazda MX5) didn’t give him an easy ride. But Paul had it sown up by July!
| 2018 Result |
Points |
| Paul Dickinson |
100 |
| Tim Forster |
91 |
| Dean Cubitt |
84 |
| Chris Davies |
74 |
| Russell Davies |
67 |
Over 2000cc Road Going Series Production Class, supported by Turbo Dynamics
Yet another very competitive class and a very competitive season too. The result was far from decided. Shaun Fudge in the Lewis Dean Subaru Impreza was trading places with Jon Maycock in the early part of the season, then he had Andrew Thorp to deal with at the end of the season. Shaun’s consistency overcame them both.
| 2018 Result |
Points |
| Shaun Fudge |
93 |
| Jon Maycock |
92 |
| Andrew Thorp |
86 |
| Sarah Fudge |
72 |
| Tony Mullis |
63 |
Road Going Specialist Production Class, supported by Fieldfare Trailer Centre
This was always going to be a battle between Clive Skipper in the Caterham and Adrian Lewis in the Westfield. Clive won the first five rounds in this class but Adrian fought back in the record half of the season and the two traded places though tout the later part. But whatever Adrian did just wasn’t enough to overcome the five wins Clive already had in the bag. The class is going faster and faster.
| 2018 Result |
Points |
| Clive Skipper |
96 |
| Adrian Lewis |
90 |
| Tony Wiltshire |
32 |
Over 2000cc Modified Limited Production Marque Sports Car Class
The Porsche 911 and Phil Price looked like they might not be a challenge for Graham Beale at the beginning of the season. But that all changed by June. Phil was on the pace and drove the car to win the last eight rounds which also gave Phil fifth in the overall championship.
| 2018 Result |
Points |
| Phil Price |
96 |
| Graham Beale |
90 |
| Paul Slade |
78 |
Up to 1400cc Modified Series Production Class supported by Cock and Sons (Builders)
Neil Turner has been pretty much in charge of this class for a few years now but 2018 was different. Neil suffered some mechanical difficulties at the July meeting which meant he was out for three rounds. Derek Mullis steeped in and scored some great points whilst Neil was absent. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough! Neil reset his own class record at the first July meeting giving him the points edge. We have a copy of Neil’s record breaking run that will be on our Facebook page soon.
| 2018 Result |
Points |
| Neil Turner |
92 |
| Derek Mullis |
91 |
| David Bean |
80 |
Over 2000cc Modified Series Production Class, supported by Meadens Skoda
Tim Painter in the gorgeous Aston Martin Vantage he shares with Andrew Fraser was an amazingly consistent driver this season and was second placed man, Richard Hillyar. They finished second and third, respectively, in this class all season.
| 2018 Result |
Points |
| Tim Painter |
90 |
| Richard Hilyar |
80 |
Over 2000cc Modified Specialist Production Class, supported Gates of Brockenhurst
The result in this class couldn’t have been predicted for almost the entire season. Martin Watson lead the class for much of the season but second placed man, Steve Holland’s performances were pushing Martin very, very hard. They swapped first and seconds at almost every event.
| 2018 Result |
Points |
| Martin Watson |
98 |
| Steve Holland |
93 |
| Richie Gatt |
86 |
Historically Interesting Class, supported by Kelvin Jouhar
Fyrth Cross had secured the class title by the end of the July meeting with some really good performances in the first seven events. His consistency was the key to this one, firsts abd seconds all season made him unbeatable!
| 2018 Result |
Points |
| Fyrth Cross |
98 |
| Sue Hayes |
87 |
| Jeremy Smihson |
58 |
Hill Climb Super Sports Cars Class
There was just one entry in this class. Mark Mortimer had the class to himself most of the season.
| 2018 Result |
Points |
| Mark Mortimer |
80 |
Sports Libre up to 1400cc
This is Gurston Down’s new classes for the 2018 season and it didn’t fail to surprise and delight the drivers and spectators alike. Peter Steel was a man on a mission! Another driver with very consistent performances and a class record too! It now stands at 33.89s,
| 2018 Result |
Points |
| Peter Steel |
91 |
| Richard Wood |
81 |
| Tim Pitfield |
36 |
Sports Libre 1401cc to 2000cc Class, supported by Lewis Property Services
Another class with just one entry, Keith Diggle. He’s put some very solid runs in this season and let’s hope we will have some more entries next season.
| 2018 Result |
Points |
| Keith Diggle |
80 |
Sports Libre over 2000cc Class
Chris Cannell had a good season although he did have the class to himself much of the year. But his Top Ten Challenge performance meant it wasn’t a wasted year!
| 2018 Result |
Points |
| Chris Cannell |
82 |
| Geoff Twemlow |
16 |
Racing Car up to 600cc Class
| 2018 Result |
Points |
| David Cuff |
16 |
601cc to 1100cc Racing Car Class, supported by Drynham Project Management Limited
James Moore is another driver who stamped his authority on this class early on in the season. The class was secure by the July meetings. These was a good fight for second between Murray Wakeham and Alan Joy. Murry’s slight better performances gave him the second place.
| 2018 Result |
Points |
| James Moore |
100 |
| Murray Wakeham |
92 |
| Alan Joy |
84 |
| Steve Loadsman |
63 |
1101cc to 1600cc Racing Car Class, supported by SM AeRoTechniques with Brian and Adrian Moody
Peter D Smith and Richard Gaylard in the Force they share were always likely to be challenging for the championship class win. It wasn’t long before they had a good lead and were fighting each other for the class. Peter’s performances not only won his the class title but he also took the Top Ten Challenge title too!
| 2018 Result |
Points |
| Peter D Smith |
93 |
| Richard Gaylard |
83 |
| Mike Lee |
32 |
1601cc to 2000cc Racing Car – Normally Aspirated Class
This class was full of surprises, Dave Lord looked like he had a good lead over Roger Cock half way through the season. They both beat the target time in July, Roger on Saturday and Dave on Sunday. Roger’s last four round wins gave him the class.
| 2018 Result |
Points |
| Roger Cock |
94 |
| Dave Lord |
89 |
Racing Car Over 2000cc
Paul Crute with the lovely Jaguar powered OMS was the only entry in this class but has had a great season coming second in the Top Ten Challenge after a very strong finishing run at the end of the season.
| 2018 Result |
Points |
| Paul Crute |
80 |
We would like to thank all of our sponsors for their support in 2018!
We would also like to thank all those who made our events and championship possible!
E&OE
Anthony Record – Press Officer – BARC SW, Gurston Down Speed Hill Climb