Excitement is building as the Power Maxed Swift Rallycross Championships prepares to make the first visit of the season to the renowned home of rallycross as Lydden Hill hosts the traditional Easter Bank Holiday Monday meeting.

After a season out, the meeting sees the return of 2011 MSA Junior Swift Champion, Aidan Hills, who made his last outing back at Croft Circuit in 2013 for the MSA British Rallycross Grand Prix. Hills returns with a new car and the aim is to contest the rest of the season as he explained: “I'm really excited to be back out after over a year and can’t wait to see everyone and race my new car. Dad and I have been working really hard to get the car finished with late nights every night for the last few weeks. Hopefully the hard work will pay off and I'll be back up the sharp end.”

An all new addition to the Swift grid is Army Ammunition Technical Officer Chris Saunders, who has grown up watching Rallycross at Lydden. Having competed in the British Forces Germany Clubman Rallycross Championship in the early 1990s, Saunders is fulfilling a lifelong ambition to race at Lydden Hill, all made possible by his family clubbing together to make this dream come true with the Peter Gwynne Motorsport single event hire car option.

Having already proven he is still on form after the winter break with a win at the opening round at Croft Circuit, reigning Champion Tristan Ovenden will be looking to increase his points lead with another victory at his home circuit. The Canterbury Plant Hire boss is under no illusions that the competition will be fierce at the iconic venue, which is also the home circuit of Sittingbourne’s Darren Scott who is on a championship charge this season. Scott is only five points behind and another local driver expected to go well is Puckley driver Nathan Heathcote who gave an impressive performance by winning the B Final before making it onto the podium at Croft picking up third in the A Final.

It was the season opener at Lydden last year when Deal driver Rob Maynard got his first taste of silverware. Narrowly missing out on repeating the performance with a fourth at Croft last month, he will be looking to be back on the Lydden podium as part of a very strong Kent representation.

Barnsley’s Jack Brown and Dave Ellis from Leeds will not be planning to let the Kent drivers have all the glory and with strong performances despite a few mechanical issues in round one, both will be in the battle along with Jake Taylor who impressed have made the smooth transition for the Junior class last season into this year’s senior ranks.

Gaining confidence every time out is Alex Spencer from Sutton in Surrey, who returns along with fellow first season rookies, Scottish driver Ryan McAdam and Jeff Hankin from Leicestershire.
A busy weekend lays ahead for BTCC Power Maxed team boss Adam Weaver as he spends the weekend at Brands Hatch with his two car team of Dave Newsham and Josh Cook, before heading south to get behind the wheel of his own Suzuki Swift on Bank Holiday Monday.

Entertaining the crowds at Croft with his flamboyant style was Essex driver Jake Harris who returns in the S H Racing Swift along with equally entertaining Andrew Hawkes from Teesside who was caught in a B Final incident at Croft which has kept him busy over recent weeks preparing for this weekend.

Returning junior championship runner-up, Northallerton’s Drew Bellerby was straight up to speed for the opening round in her Fuchs Lubricants and Sayers Tankers supported Swift at Croft Circuit. New kid on the block, Bradley Durdin soon got to grips with the Peter Gwynne Motorsport hire car and by heat three, seized his moment and took his first chequered flag.

Stockton-on-Tees teenager Jennie Hawkes, building confidence all the time, showed improved lap times since previous outing last October.

It was the junior final that was talk of the track and the rallycross community for the weeks following, with what has been referred to as one of the best finals of the day. Bellerby hungry for the win in front of her home crowd and Durdin high from his previous heat win, the couple did battle, swapping places, but no paint, the whole A final before Bellerby inched ahead of Durdin to the line. After collecting her trophy an elated Bellerby commented ‘That was one of the most sucessful races I've had yet and my cars come home in one piece for once!’

This next generation will certainly be ones to watch at Lydden Hill.

Action gets underway at 9am with practice and the first of three heats are scheduled for 10.30am. The finals will be held in the afternoon and for further information, please visit:

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