Summers shines at Shelsley as he takes first 2025 British Hillclimb win

Matt Ryder extended his championship lead and Alex Summers reminded everyone of his sensational pace as the British Hillclimb Championship arrived at Shelsley Walsh last weekend for the first of two summer visits.

On a day of fantastic action and competition on the famous 1000-yard hill, honours were even between Ryder and Summers as they took a run-off win each and, remarkably, both set a 23.01s climb up the side of the Teme Valley on their way to their respective victories.

Unusually, Ryder went first in the opening run-off in the Gould GR59 he shares with Sean Gould, as Gould had been faster in the class runs. With a new set of rear tyres fitted, Ryder simply had to push as hard as he could without knowing what his rivals would do in his wake.

Ryder’s 23.13s climb was a fine performance, around three-quarters of a second away from Gould’s four-year-old hill record. A flying Will Hall ran him close on 23.28s and Gould was well in touch on a 23.38s ahead of Wallace Menzies and Dave Uren. But Summers saved the best until last and fired the high-revving DJ Firestorm up the hill in 23.01s to take his first win of what is only a limited season in 2025.

At the end of the afternoon Ryder ran last and went to the startline knowing that Summers had just thrown the gauntlet down with a 23.06s. “I thought I’d have to do a 22-second run to beat him, but that’s the luxury of running last in the run-off: you see what you have to try and beat,” said Ryder who turned in an attacking 23.01s to snatch victory and end the day with a win and a second, just like his friend and rival.

Gould grabbed third by a whisker from Menzies but had struggled with a slow getaway due to a mechanical issue on the launch and pitch control set-up, which the team was able to quickly fix before Ryder went to the line a few minutes later.

Uren and Trevor Willis were next up but Hall was out of luck when the gear change paddle on his steering wheel failed at the first corner and he limped slowly to the top of the hill after what would surely have been a strong run.

“It’s still very close, and there’s a long way to go,” said Ryder of any talk of title aspirations after 12 of 30 rounds. However Menzies had, by his own high standard, a modest weekend. The former champion reckoned that he was just lacking pace through the very fast left-handers at Kennel and Crossing in the lower part of the hill. “Those will probably be dropped scores at the end of the season,” admitted the Scot.

The stars in smaller-engined cars on a hill where power is more important than just about anywhere else, included regular Maltese visitor Zac Zammit, David Warburton, young Alex Coles and Johnathen Varley.

While Ryder was as strong as ever, it was Summers who was the star of the day as he reminded everyone of his championship-winning potential on his first representative weekend of 2025. “It’s reassuring for us to know that our processes, our package and my driving is in the conversation,” said Summers.