Bailey Wins Again at Croft
The sun shone as round three of the Swift Sport Rallycross Championship commenced at the first visit of the season to Croft Circuit . With the biggest entry in British Rallycross, as the qualifying heats got underway it was round two winner Morgan Bailey who was the fastest man out of the fourteen car faction. Returning Swift front runner Rob Shield, having missed round two, followed with Ryan Hadfield in third who had claimed his first podium at Lydden in his second Rallycross outing. Tom Llewellin having passed his driving test only a week after his seventeenth Birthday took fourth with fellow PGM Team mate Max Weatherley fifth and 2018 returnee Chris Scott in sixth. Reigning champion Simon Ovenden stepped aside to allow cousin Matt to take a turn behind the wheel in the Ovenden Swift who managed a respectable tenth in his first qualifying race. Consistency from Bailey put him top of the table for Q2 with Llewellin second and Hadfield again in third. A race win in the first Apodidae of Swifts put Guernsey driver Christian Hainsworth fourth with Weatherley fifth and the border force officer Don Macleod made up the top six. Shield delivered a race win to his home crowd in Q3 to take the top spot ahead of Bailey, whilst former drifter Dominic Flitney found pace making the top three. Llewellin made a good recovery up to fourth after first corner contact ahead of Scott with Rob Maynard sixth in the Practical Car and Van Rental supported Swift. During the first of the semi finals, in a full on charge Bailey manage to accumulate a nine second lead over the six laps before he saw the flailing chequered flag. Weatherley was next to the line ahead of Shield and Macleod secured the last final promotion place in fourth. Llewellin took the win in the second semi final ahead of Flitney, with Scott and Maynard taking the final two places through to the all important final. For junior graduate Tom Middleton it was another disappointing day as he was plagued with yet more car issues and suffering from Man Flu, Joe Booth was not on form throughout the day so both watched the final as spectators. A horrified Hainsworth, not realising the lack of semi finals in other classes, missed his opportunity to fight for a place in the final when he spotted the Swifts fly past from the jet wash zone. As the green lights glowed and they headed down to Clervaux corner on the jokerless circuit, it was Bailey who emerged first followed by Llewellin, Maynard, Scott and Flitney. Down on power, Shield followed behind with the hope of grabbing any championship points he could defending against Macleod whilst Weatherley sat stationary stuck in the gravel trap. Bailey continued his dominant drive to take his second win in a row with junior champion Llewellin taking silver and for Flitney, joining the Saturday bookatrack.com test day paid off as he claimed his first podium position with a move on Maynard up into third, Scott and Macleod completed the final finishers. As the Championship heads to Pembrey Circuit next for the season double-header event in 23rd & 24th June 2018 Bailey enjoys a fourteen point lead in on the championship table ahead of Llewellin with Scott third.
