Before I begin, I would like to apologise to Richard and his team (!) for not managing to keep his website up to date and also to all of you who have been reading these reports with interest.  I know I will never have a job in this line of work, (although a certain Mr Ranson has a fair chance!) but it has certainly made me appreciate what goes into producing the various websites and publications that revolve around our sport.  I would also like to say a BIG thank you to Richard & Georgia for their work on the DVDs and especially the onboard camera work.  Without this kind of enthusiasm and hard work very few of us would ever get to see modern day hillclimbing sat in the comfort of our own living rooms.

Onto the racing. 

After Craigantlet, I knew that my chance of the Championship was now almost certainly over, although I was not about to give up just yet!   Martin was in a very strong position and barring any failures he was well on his taking his second title.  Our next stop was Shelsley.  This is a venue where Grovsey excels.  I was pleased to get into the 23’s again in the 1^st run off and was fairly confident in the 2^nd but brushed the inside bank going into Top Ess and had to back out of the throttle.  When I got back on it the car stepped sideways on the exit and although felt and looked quick the time was lost.  The result was still good enough to hold onto the lead in the BMTR Top Ten Challenge so I still went away happy.

Gurston Down was another cracking weekend and with the new split times in the middle part of the hill made an interesting read on the time boards.  A 2^nd place again in the 1^st run off but managed to go one better in the afternoon.  After seeing the time at the finish I was over the moon.  I read it as a 25.84 which was 1 hundredth under the record.  Unfortunately the top of the 9 was missing and meant I had missed it by 4 hundredths! 

Back to Prescott and the track surface seemed to be getting better, even in the wet.  This meant that the inevitable was to happen.  The class record that I have shared with Trevor Willis was in danger.  It eventually fell to an awesome run by Ash Mason who sliced ¾’s second off it.  (He has managed to go even quicker since and into the 45’s on road tyres!)  My aim for the weekend was to hopefully wrap up the BMTR Top Ten Challenge.  Grovesy only needed to score a handful of points to secure the British Championship.  This he did without too much of a problem in the 1^st run off.  With that out of the way he relaxed and let me carry on to take the 2 wins.  This secured the Top Ten Challenge.  With both championships out of the way it meant that Doune would be a fairly relaxed affair and we could sit back and watch the battle for 4th, 5th & 6^th positions.  How wrong could we be! 

1^st practice along the bottom part of the hill and I catch the right hand front wheel on the wall and rip the bottom wishbone away from the tub.  Thankfully I managed to keep the car in the middle of the track avoiding any further damage.  An extremely lucky escape!  Martin & Paul’s car had its fair share of problems as you may have read about.  Our relaxing weekend had not got off to a good start.  Thankfully, by race day we were all back and running once again.  My aim was to score in both run offs which would give me points at every round. This almost didn’t go according to plan as the usual Scottish weather played its part giving us a bit of rain to play in.  Grovesy had his eyes on another two wins to give him a total of fifty career wins.  He delivered.  An awesome achievement when you consider the short amount of time he has been in a car capable of winning.

I’ve had a cracking year and enjoyed every minute.  I would obviously like to thank all the hard working people and clubs who make our sport happen in such a friendly but professional manner.  A big well done to Grovesy on his 2^nd Championship.  Not forgetting huge congratulations to Tommy ‘Big Paws’ New for being the only Pilbeam in the Top Ten  and wrapping up the Leaders Championship.

Here's to more of the same in 2007 (although I wouldn’t mind if I were one place higher!).

Scotty signing off.