The 2015 MSA British Rallycross Championship in association with the Shannon Group heads to Kent, and Lydden Hill for round two of this year’s series on Easter Monday. With over seventy entries the seeds are sown for what could be a tremendous days action.

Albatec Racings Andy Scott will want to capitalise on his victory at the opening round at Croft in his Peugeot 208, but this time will have teammate Mark Flaherty joining him in a two-car line up. Flaherty missed the opening round, competing instead on a Rally in Spain. Make no mistake; he is capable of pushing Scott all the way this weekend.

The MSA Supercar class in association with Odyssey batteries has a very healthy entry list. Aside from the Albatec duo, Ollie O’Donovan returns to Lydden Hill in his Ford Focus fresh from second overall at Croft, as does Kevin Procter in the Ford Fiesta, who finished runner up to O’Donovan in Yorkshire with third overall.

Pat Doran and Steve Harris will both drive Citroën DS3’s, while the defending British Champion, Julian Godfrey will be hoping for a better event than he had at Croft. A myriad of issues hampered the engine builder all day, and he scraped into the A final courtesy of winning the Supercar B Final. Another to suffer with cars issues was Steve Hill in the Mitsubishi Evo, and he like Godfrey will want a clean run at the Kent circuit. Steve Mundy and Andy Grant bring a pair of Ford Focus to Lydden, and will continue the battle they had at Croft while Mad Mark will be hoping for better luck than he had at the opening round, his vivid pink Citroën Xsara a hit with fans. Another treat for British Rallycross fans is the return of long time European favourites Wil Teurlings and Jos Jansen driving a Volvo S40 and Ford Fiesta respectively.

In the MSA Supernational class Gary Simpson will be aiming to continue winning ways in his BMW M3, but he faces stiff opposition from Allan Tapscott in the Vauxhall Corsa as well as star of Croft Daniel Rooke in the Citroën AX. Tony Lynch will be pushing hard in his BMW Mini, while defending champion Stuart Emery will be hoping for a better event than he and the UK Batter Sales team had at Croft, Emery and the team bitterly disappointed when the engine let go in the first heat of the day.

Gary Dixon brings the Vauxhall VX220 to Lydden for the first time and Mike Howlin makes his first appearance of the season in the rapid Ford Fiesta, while Guy Corner makes the trip down from Northallerton to chase points in his Peugeot 206. Darren Clark form Canterbury heads to Lydden in his Nissan Almera GTi, while aiming to get amongst the points too will be Paige Bellerby in the Lotus Exige.

Other entries in the MSA Supernational include Todd Crooks in the Mini Cooper S, while Martin Hawkes has the potential to get into the points at Lydden in his Peugeot 206. Gareth Softley will compete in his Citroën Xsara, Gareth Wood in a Ford Ka and Slawomir Woloch is out in his Ford Fiesta. Good to see too, the return of entertainer Vince Bristow in the BMW and he is one on the day capable of pushing himself into the points.

Where do you start with the Swift Sports then..? Fifteen cars entered for the second round of the championship and the chances of some superb racing this Bank Holiday expected for sure. The man to chase is round one winner, Kent based Tristan Ovenden, but don’t rule out another Kent local Darren Scott too, who has confirmed a full title attack this year, so expect those two to battle.

Another local that goes well at Lydden is Rob Maynard, the Deal driver very capable of getting to a battle for points with these two, along with Nathan Heathcote who drive very well at Croft too. Jack Brown and Jake Talyor could well shine this weekend, both drivers gaining experience all the time. Alex Spencer and Adam Weaver showed well at Croft and will want to continue that trend at Lydden, while Dave Ellis will be aiming to get a good run in his Swift too.

Jake Harris takes on his second Swift Sport round in the SH Racing prepared car, while Andrew Hawkes will want to build on his Croft showing. Returning to Rallycross after a rather long break is Aidan Hills, and nothing would please the Worthing based driver than grabbing points at the expense of others this weekend. Chris Saunders and Jeff Hankin also take part this weekend. Ryan McAdam is back for more, following his Rallycross debut at Croft.

In the MSA Swift Juniors another of the Bellerby dynasty, this time Drew competes in the Swift, and will face challenges from Bradley Durdin and Jennie Hawkes. Bellerby got the victory at Croft, but Durdin proved that he is capable of pushing for a win as well.

In the BMW Mini and Hot Hatch classes, David Bell will compete in his BMW Mini as will the Hudsons Kris and Kiefer, while the Hot Hatch will be contested by Croft runner up, Kent based Paul Maybourne, and the local man will want to do well at his home circuit. He will be joined by Stephen Gaunt, who was third at Croft, while John Lyne and Jeff Hope-Davies will be aiming to get into the mix and score points too, as will Robert Potyra all driving Citroën Saxos

Super 1600 sees 2014 Hot Hatch Champion, Craig Lomax bring his rapid Citroën C2 to Kent for the first time, and he will face opposition from Mike Jones in a Suzuki Swift and Nick Potter in a Citroën Saxo. Lomax was pleased with his debut at Croft in the new car.

In the RX150 class, there is any number of drivers capable of winning on the day. Favourite will certainly be Marc Scott, despite having a poor run with gearbox issues at Croft and he has the speed to challenge at Lydden this weekend. Croft winner Dave Bellerby, will however be aiming to make sure that Scott does not have it easy either, as will Kevin Feeney who is very capable of putting his RX150 into the mix and more importantly the points.

Chrissy Palmer, Brett Harris and the Sargents, Larry and Adam will be aiming to get into the middle of any action as will the venerable Richard Moore. Stephen Jones who was fourth at Croft will be in action, as will newcomers Mitchell Flaherty and Murray Coulthard. Tom O’Rourke is back to Rallycross for the first time this year.

There could still be one or two surprise entries to come in the RX150.

Crowd favourite Retro Rallycross is back at Lydden this weekend too, and that will keep a lot of fans happy. The raucous MG Metro 6R4 of Rob Gibson will entertain once again, while James Harrold brings the glorious VW Beetle, always worth watching down the hill, to Lydden once again.

Ray Morgan meanwhile has the magic sounding BDA Escort back for everyone to enjoy. They are joined by the likes of Lance Foster, Stewart Bowes and Ian Biagi all in Mini’s, while Paul Smith has his VW Polo, Daniel Greaves his Mazda 323 and Paul Haigh in his Vauxhall Nova.

Event Details

Signing On 0730

New Driver Briefing (who have not raced at Lydden before) 0800

Drivers Briefing 0830

Practice Starts 0900

Heat 1 Starts 1030

Heats 2 follow Heat 1

Heats 3 follow Heat 2

Finals run in the afternoon

For ticket prices visit www.lyddenhill.co.uk

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