A spectator filled event saw some competitive motor-racing at the first Apex Trust Company Ltd Easter Monday Liberation Day Hill Climb and despite the difficult conditions; they witnessed some great displays of skill and bravery from the 70 plus competitors.

The practice runs started at 10am with cold, slippery conditions caused from the recent bad weather. Many sensibly used the two practice runs with caution to avoid any early hits on the day. There were some near misses caused by the over confident, however, all competitors were safely through for the official runs and for competition to commence.

The track conditions did not improve in the afternoon and cold track temperatures were not providing much grip for competitors to push their machines to the speeds and times they had hoped for. 

The first two official runs saw only two competitors’ post sub 45sec times; Glyn Moignard driving his Brush-Stokes OMS racing car and Oli Holmes riding his Relentless Bikers KTM motorbike, with respectful times of 44.99sec and 44.89sec. 

Holmes went on to win both the motorbike 351-500cc class and the 501-750cc class. Holmes showed fantastic bike control to reduce his earlier time to an impressive 44.79sec. He was closely followed by a good all-day battle between Andrew Deffains riding his Polar Auto Italia Honda and Justin Bush on his Brush-Strokes Honda. Both riders exchanged 2nd and 3rd place in the 351-500cc class throughout the day. Deffains posted a 46.20sec on the penultimate run, placing the pressure on Bush to go faster.  Bush showed real commitment on the final run and according to sector times appeared on course to possibly go faster than Deffains. However, a loss of traction in the last corner seemed to hinder Bush who stopped the clock at a respectful 46.54sec. While this battle was happening, Holmes was able to secure the fastest time of the day on two wheels with his class winning time.

The fastest drivers of the day was a closely fought battle between Len Amy driving his Mallock MK32 sports libre car, Glyn Moignard and Colin Le Galle; who were both driving similar spec OMS 2000M racing cars. Early afternoon drives went in Moignard’s favour, posting a 44.99sec and a 45.00sec run in succession whilst Amy posted 45.10sec and 45.11sec – both showing good consistency considering the poor conditions! Amy placed good pressure on his competitors by improving his time to 44.54sec on the day’s final run. What looked to be a quick run by Moignard eventually saw a lot of time lost with a big tyre lock-up in the last corner and could only achieve 45.85sec. However, Le Galle showed fantastic commitment on his last run and looked on course to possibly take the fastest car of the day honours from Amy. However, the clock stopped 3/100th of a second off Amy’s time at 44.57sec – a good effort by Le Galle and a deserved win for Amy.

The sole record to be lowered was done by Carl Dix driving his Honda Civic Type R in the Road-Going Production 1401-2000cc Car Class. Time spent testing at a recent track day in France proved to be good preparations for his 2013 season as he stopped the clock with a superb 49.97sec time – an excellent drive and fine achievement to post a sub50sec time in a road car!

The Jersey Motorcycle & Light Car Club officials would like to thank sponsors Apex Trust Company Limited, St John Ambulance, Normandy Rescue, Paramedics, Trinity Honorary Police and residents in the area for their assistance at the event.