IT MAY have been a special day for Scott Moran as he clocked the fastest ever time up Le Val des Terres, but there were a number of local drivers who proved that they were no slouches. A total of 17 English competitors and two from Jersey took part in the Guernsey round of the MSA British Hill Climb Championship, but the climax of the day, the two top 12 run-offs, featured six local drivers.

The English drivers race every week in the UK so it is no mean feat for the local contingent to qualify against stiff opposition.

Nick Saunders had barely taken delivery of his new Capelles Building Stores Reynick, so it was a considerable achievement to qualify, let alone post a time of 32sec. in his first outing.

‘It all went very well, it was good day. It was the first time I have really driven the car so I was not sure I was even going to qualify,’ he said.

It is a step up from Saunders’ previous car, a Hi-Tech featuring a 900cc Honda Fireblade motor. It is essentially a Reynard with a revised rear end, but powered by Suzuki’s 1400cc Hyabusa motorcycle engine.

‘It was bought in conjunction with my brother-in-law.

‘I just wanted to go a bit faster really and I am really pleased with it. It was well worth it,’ said the joint owner.

Saunders went on to post a very quick 31.69 to qualify for the second run-off and a 32.02 in the actual run-off.

‘It is great to have the competition and to be able to judge how well you might get on in England. I was especially pleased to beat Phil Cooke who has been breaking records all over the place,’ added Saunders, who picked up championship points for his 10th and ninth place finishes in the first and second run-offs.

It capped a recent run of good form for the driver, who travelled to Pommeraye in France recently for the 2.5km hill climb during which he won the British section of the meeting.

Sadly Colin Le Maitre’s Toyota engine went in his Dallara on the first run-off which put an end to his day and Mike Dean crashed out spectacularly from the second run-off chasing Moran’s time, so it was down to Jason King, in his 1,800cc Formula Ford PRS, to post the fastest local time of 31.67 and bag four championship points.

Backing him up were great drives from fellow locals Glenn Tanquerel in the 1,370cc Autocare Jedi Suzuki and Paul Le Messurier who finished in 10th place in his Lemtech DB03.