THE 2016 season at Wiscombe Park ended with the MG Car Club (South West region) and the National Hill Climb Association bringing the curtain down on car and motor cycle events respectively.

Shillingstone’s Andrew Forsyth missed out on the runners-up spot in the MG meeting by less than a single point but he did manage to take the honours in the Road-Going Specialist Production Car class at the event.

The Classic Marque Speed Championship saw two representatives from Dorchester in the form of Merv Brake in his Mazda MX5 and Alan Davies with his 4.0 litre TVR Chimaera.

The latter posted the fourth fastest time in the class with a best climb of 48.13 seconds while Everett, in a similar car, secured the win, posting a time of 47.52 seconds.

Bere Regis Mini driver Stephen Wareham battled hard for victory in the Downton Engineering Works Social Club category eventually claiming second to Wimborne’s Nigel Samson who took his Austin Mini to the top of the course in 48.25 seconds leaving the 1330cc Morris Mini of Wareham 0.34 seconds in arrears.

Twenty-four hours later it was the National Hill Climb Association who took centre stage on the challenging 900-metre track, which included a round of the British Motor Cycle Hill Climb Championships.

The championship protagonists had the usual two timed runs to qualify for the run-offs in which the fastest 10 would return to the track to score points for the season-long series.

Weymouth rider Keith Haines, who finished eighth in the 2015 competition, qualified for the run-off with a best climb in the class runs of 44.38 seconds on his 550cc Aprilla.

The maintenance team leader raised his game with an improved time of 43.96 in a bid to retain the number eight competition number which represents the finishing position for the top 10 at the season’s end.

Having a change of motor-sporting disciplines was Dorchester’s Rod Thorne who swapped his flame-proof overalls for leathers, his steering wheel for handlebars and 5000cc of Rover V8 power plant for 600cc from Honda.

The Pilbeam MP43 sports racing driver teamed-up with Kevin Young on the recently acquired Shellbourne Honda sidecar outfit.

Having ridden the machine for the first time the previous day, the garage proprietor progressively improved his times throughout the day.

He made his fastest ascent of 51.33 seconds in the optional free run at the end of the meeting which did not count towards the results.