I used to love the run-off at what I still call the RAC British Hillclimb Championship. They provided a thrilling climax to a weekend's motorsport with the result often being decided on the last run of the meeting. Yet now I don't often bother about them. They take up a huge amount of time, our lot only get two competition runs and spend ages hanging about. Also, even after all these years, I still hate the stupid two run-off system!

All this chuntering does have a point. The September Prescott is a two day meeting, but our Championship organisers had arranged with the BOC that all of the Ferrari action would take place on the Saturday. It still took until around 3.00pm for the first competition runs, but the three classes doing the Saturday went straight round again and it was all over by about 4.30pm!

There was a good Ferrari entry of 16 cars with all of the 2012 Championship contenders in attendance. Andrew Holman (355) was leading, having scored consecutive maximum scores in the previous three rounds. By contrast second place Richard Prior (355) had had a bad last round at Curborough where he found his tyres somewhat tired. For Prescott he took the almost unprecedented step (for him) of investing in four new tyres - and all at the same time! In addition, these were the trick Michelins Holman had been using for some time. If this was not enough, Richard had also set his car up. But....on the way to Prescott he thought he had made a terrible mistake; his car was tram-lining and didn't feel good at all. However once he took to the track he found the handling transformed and his customary smile was back.

Not smiling was FOC Comps Director John Swift. He suggested that as the hillclimbers spend their slice of the Pirelli sponsorship money on their prizegiving dinner, those who ran Michelins should have to go forgo their starter.

The Hillclimb Tipster regarded fourth-placed Chris Butler (355) as a long shot for the championship, but Chris is a very determined and competitive chap as we were to find out. Any of the above could be expected to take the maximum points, with Nick Taylor in his 430 fancied for the outright win.

When I pitched up at the crack of 11.30, P1 was over. I was told "Mad Dog (Holman) is on fire", he being the only one in the 50s. Butler, Taylor and Prior were all in the 51s. Holman improved to 50.63 on P2, but Butler was quicker on 50.60, though concerned his engine seemed to have lost some of its rasp. Taylor was on 49.94 but it was Prior who really set the track alight with a stunning 49.17.

During lunchtime our hillclimbers bought a glass of orange juice and a packet of crisps between them then commandeered the best seats in the restaurant to watch qualifying for the Italian GP. Other diversions were some good trade stalls selling nice pictures and greetings cards and one lady selling handbags she made. She said that 60% of her bags were bought by male competitors as a peace offerings to stay-at-home wives. Over lunch a serious-faced Chris Butler cleaned and polished his car in the face of taunts of "Desperate measures Beuttler"; however he was to have the last laugh....

In R1 Doc Attwood had gear selection issues with his pretty little Dino. James Spicer (348) clipped the barrier on the exit of the Esses, causing his Dad to be red-flagged. On being reassured that his boy was OK, Mike had a re-run in his 328 and recorded his best time of the day (51.99). I do not think that he can now be caught in the Classic Cup. The only others to set their best times on this run were John Swift (355 - 52.09) and Andrew Holman, who improved to 50.14. This was not good enough as Taylor was quickest on 48.84, well clear of Butler (49.36 and provisionally on 20 points) and Prior (49.45).

R2 rolled around quickly and Mark Hargreaves recorded 54.41 in the family 308. This beat son Jack's 55.02 which just pipped Shaun Smith's nicely driven 328 (55.08). Richard Preece took tight lines in his 355 to score a 52.13, Brian Jackson (308) must have done something wrong on R1 as his time was only 61.62. He put things right on R2 with a hard-charging yet silky smooth 53.74. Pauline Goodwin (328) improved to 54.35, then it was time for James Spicer, his car repaired with tank tape. Clearly his scrape had not put him off as he got well into the 52s (52.28).

Phil Whitehead (355) had a good run to get into the 50s, his 50.92 setting a new personal best and netting him fifth place o/a and 11 points. Andrew Holman was next up. He thought he needed to brake later into Ettores and did so, only to go too deep into Pardon hairpin and the time was gone. His first run time would leave him fourth o/a and more importantly with only 13 points, which did not add to his "Best 8" total which counted for the championship.

Next Peter Rogerson (360) set his best competition time of the day (59.32), then after Swifty it was Richard Prior's turn. His 355 hurtled into view clearly on the limit with a big twitch in Orchard. This was a stonking run of 48.83 to take the lead by 1/100th of a second and set the best-ever 355 time at Prescott. With bated breath we waited for Butler. As ever he was smoother than Prior but this time slower. He improved by 5/100ths to 49.31, which was enough to give him max. points from Prior (burdened by the reigning champ's +1% PEP) by 1/100th of a second; so all that polishing did pay off!

Last of the front-runners was Nick Taylor. In marked contrast to the highly chuckable 355, although more powerful with better brakes and gizmos, the 430 is bigger, heavier and much less wieldy. Nick had quite a big lift going into Orchard but improved to 48.62 to take the win. He will also be pleased to have beaten Jon Goodwin's previous best 430 mark. However, after the 430's +2% PEP was applied this gave Nick only the third-placed 15 points. This was a classic 355 vs. 430 battle but to take the 20 points the 430 would have needed the 360 PEP of +1%. Maybe it's time to consider reducing the 430 PEP to 1.5%? Of course, there is a school of thought which doesn't subscribe to handicaps (which the PEP is), believing that the bloke with the quickest car who drives it fastest should win the title.

When all was done and dusted Prior had closed on Holman by two points but Butler's total, with only seven scores, had leaped up by 20. Next is the penultimate round at Shelsley Walsh where, at the time of writing, Holman and Butler are in, but Prior had failed to get an entry!

Next up: Shelsley Walsh: September 23.

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