Brilliant Browning is King of the Hill
By TMX Archives on 2nd May 11
Easter Monday has become synonymous with the Red Marley Hill-Climb for classic enthusiasts and this year was no exception.
The challenging Red Marley hill produced an entry of 170 solos and the biggest crowd of the classic off-road season in support of Help for Heroes.
And with ideal conditions for some fast runs, the hill record of 19.53 secs, set by Carl Pope in 2009, looked in danger.
Leigh Owen - star of the meeting in 2010 when he aced both the over 350cc and Allcomers classes - looked the man most likely when he grabbed this year's over 350cc class with a time a tad short of the magical twenty seconds mark.
Leigh chalked up 19.78 secs - good enough for the Silver Helmet and ultimately the class.
However, Leigh's progress towards another double came unstuck, almost literally, in the Allcomers class.
A welded-up frame - a memento of his 2010 exploits - broke again.
That paved the way for former "King of the Hill", Arthur Browning, to reclaim his title - but only after a re-run!
The 2010 winner of the Pre-50 rigid class, Malcolm Russell, was victorious again.
Only three ancient steeds made it through to this final and for the first time this reporter can remember it didn't contain a member of the Priestley family.
Joe Priestley was the fourth qualifier but he was a non-starter.
No doubt about the winner of the up-to-350cc class.
After Eddie Williams (the 2010 winner) stalled on the start line there was only one man in it, as Ian Bain on his bored-out Greeves won comfortably, despite laying a nice smoke-screen.
Leigh Owen was equally invincible in the over 350cc class.
He qualified from the bottom half of the draw and en-route to his semi-final, which contained Arthur Browning, Tim Dallaway and 16-year old Tom Crump, he set fastest time of the day.
Arthur was the first qualifier from this part of the draw, just edging out Leigh in the semi-final.
Carl Pope and young newcomer, Josh Williams aboard Phil Edwards's Triumph Metisse, emerged as the two qualifiers from the semi-final in the top half of the draw, eliminating Chris Chell and Derrick Edmondson.
Then came the Allcomers class for the unofficial "King of the Hill" accolade.
At the top of his form, Leigh Owen looked like repeating his 2010 double but the third round proved terminal.
Richard Williams, Ricky Pedder, Arthur Browning and Dave Bell were the semi-finalists in the top half of the draw, and Chris Chell, Phil Edwards, Derrick Edmonson and Jim Shand from the bottom half.
It looked all set for a cracking finish.
Into the final came Arthur Browning, Ricky Pedder, Phil Edwards and Jim Shand.
But that was only the start. Up the hill and over the infamous "pimple" the four riders disappeared in a flurry of dust and dirt.
There was a suitable pause before the positions/ times were announced - these finals are always close, usually just fractions of a second separating all four.
But this one was too close for even the sophisticated timing equipment to call.
Arthur Browning and Jim Shand finished in a dead-heat on 21.02 seconds. Ricky Pedder was third, Phil Edwards fourth.
The re-run between Browning and Shand was marginally quicker but no doubt about the winner this time - Arthur Browning is once more King of the Hill.
Results:
Pre-50 Rigid: 1 Malcolm Russell (1929 500 Ariel) 24.91 secs, 2 Dave Faulkner (1949 500 Norton JAP) 30.37, 3) Walter Bratley (1934 500 Levis) 45.39.
Pre-71 up to 350cc: 1 Ian Bain (345 Greeves) 22.83, 2 Roger Taylor (350 Ansel BSA) 23.64, 3 Ben Millichip ((350 BSA) 24.54, 4 Mick Beech (350 BSA) 25.01.
Pre-71 over 350cc: 1 Leigh Owen (500 CJ Jawa) 20.02, 2 Josh Williams (750 Triumph Metisse) 20.89, 3 Carl Pope (600 SB Cheney BSA) 21.04, 4 Arthur Browning (500 Jawa Metisse) 21.71.
Allcomers: 1 Arthur Browning (500 Jawa Metisse) 20.99, 2 Jim Shand (600 Cheney BSA) 21.31, 3 Ricky Pedder (650 Cheney Triumph) 21.10, 4 Phil Edwards (650 Cheney Triumph) 23.66.
Silver Helmet (Fastest Time of the Day): Leigh Owen 19.78 secs.
