OVER eager drivers and a cooling road were to blame as the first hill climb of the season on Le Val des Terres saw several crashes yesterday. Even though the action took place in blazing sunshine and in front of one of the largest crowds in recent years, there was a real chill in the air that served to make the conditions tougher for the drivers as the day wore on.

The ‘wrecker’ lorry had one of its busier days as it went up a total of four times to bring back down vehicles in different states of destruction.

Lucky there were no resulting injuries to the drivers involved.

‘People got a bit over confident because the weather was fine but then the road cooled down,’ said official Roger King.

‘Yet there were still some good times even at the end.’

The first driver to require the services of the wrecker was Terry de la Mare when he rolled his single seater Suzuki Hayabusa Mallock just before the straight in his second run. His first run of 33.23sec. ensured that he posted the fastest time of the day in Sports Libra up to 1,600cc class.

He caused some cosmetic damage to his car and some suspected chassis damage.

‘I’m obviously annoyed, but there you go. It’s one of those things,’ said the IT manager.

‘You’re not trying unless you crash. You can’t expect to go motor racing and not expect to crash.’

Mark Scott in his G. Scott & Co Dutton was the next one to come a cropper. The part-time magician also had trouble near the top and he must have wished that he could have made himself disappear instead of coming back down the hill on the wrecker.

The crash resulted in a damaged steering arm on his vehicle.

‘It’s only your pride that hurts,’ he said.

‘I was going to put my helmet on backwards when I came back down.’

This crash was closely followed by Paul ‘Frankie’ Morgan in his Volkswagen Golf when he hit the wall going into Terres House and then by Dave Bichard who was taking part in the Racing Cars 1101 to 1600cc class.

Bichard had borrowed King’s Hit Systems Locust for the day as his own car was not ready in time.

‘I’ve not spoken to him yet,’ said Bichard soon after crashing King’s machine.

‘I looked the other way when I came back down. These things happen and he’ll be OK about it I’m sure.’

The event was not all about crashes, though, as three class records were broken.

Steve Marquis in his Citroen 2CV Special set a new quickest time in the Sand Racing Saloons class when the Rabeys mechanic went up the hill in 35.21.

And Tim Torode in his Wheeled Dev. Anglia broke Jersey’s Barry Moignard eight-year-old record in the Special Saloons 1801cc and over class with a time of 33.21, which was also a personal best. A change in regulations has seen Torode’s car move into this class from the modified saloons category.

‘You have to be pleased with a personal best and a record and especially as it was off a Jerseyman,’ he said.

The last class record to go went to Matt Corson in the 125 Karts class he posted 32.10 in his Karting Gsy Maranello machine. The old record had stood since 1999.

‘It was really good,’ said the 20-year-old mechanic.

‘It’s the first time I’ve done a gearbox up the hill. I think there’s still so more to go if we get good weather like we did today.’

The fastest time of the day belonged to another karter and there were no shocks that it was a Ridley. But what was surprising was that it went to Glyn in his single Gsy Crane Hire Anderson/Rotax and not to his younger brother Neil in the more powerful twin Epm Anderson, who had a rare off day.

The older Ridley set 31.47 to gain his first FTD since 1995. ‘It was all right but I have gone faster than that,’ he said.

‘There’s bit more to come though.’