FRAMPTON’S Rodney Thorne scored his first Gurston Down ‘Best Time of the Day’ with a splendid 28.91-second effort in his 3.5 litre Pilbeam MP58 in the first runs.

And it was a good job nobody else was able to overhaul his time on the second runs because gremlins on the final drive in the combined larger capacity racing car class left the Pilbeam MP58 sidelined for the rest of the two-day hillclimb competition.

The first day began with the usual invitation classes and in the pre-war Austin 7s road class Bernard Cowley from Wimborne was too quick for the rest.

The family battle in the up to 2000cc modified limited production marquee sports car class was resolved in favour of Chris Bealing from Sturminster Newton, who this time saw off wife Hannah by a second in their shared Rover MGF.

Wareham’s Antony Orchard was forced to settle for third spot in the combined modified specialist production car classes while Thorne’s wife Hayley came second in the over 2000cc sports libre class.

The following day saw Simon Purcell from Sherborne ease his 1.4 supercharged Lotus Exige to victory in the modified limited production marquee sports car class.

Orchard moved up to second in the combined modified specialist production class, putting him sixth overall in the Gurston Championship.

With his single-seater Pilbeam out of action, Rodney Thorne sat in with Hayley in the 5.0 Pilbeam MP43 sports racer and took the win in the over 2000cc sports libre class, moving up to second in the Gurston Down Top Ten Challenge in the process.

Sue Hayes from Salisbury was second in the 2.6 Force SR8 ahead of Hayley Thorne.

The next event at Gurston Down is on July 21-22.