By Chris Manning;

BUDDING young Maldon racing driver Brad Bailey is all revved up and ready to face a new racing challenge by competing in the 2010 Ginetta G40 Junior championship.

The new Ginetta G40 to be used for the 2010 Junior Championship

Brad, 15, the current British and Open Junior Rallycross champion, has been selected as one of 26 young drivers from around the country to take part in the sports car championship for drivers aged between 14 and 17 years old and will see him race at premier race circuits around the UK.

It is quite apt that Essex boy Brad will be driving a Ginetta, as the company was originally founded in Witham by the Walklett brothers back in the 1958.

The Championship supports the prestigious British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) which attracted attendances in 2009 of 325,000 people during the 10-round championship and in addition to this the whole race day is covered live on TV on ITV4, which reached over 13.7 million UK viewers via 116 hours of broadcast time.

Brad at Ginetta Juniors Test, Pembrey

To qualify as one of the 26 selected to line up on the grid for the first race on April 4 at Thruxton, Brad had to attend a test session at the Pembrey circuit in Wales, before being given the green light by the championship organisers.

During the year Brad will have the opportunity to race on such famous race circuits as Brands Hatch, Siverstone, Snetterton and Donington Park and for each round Brad gets two 15 minute races on Sunday race day, plus practice and qualifying sessions the previous day.

The 26 identical race cars are currently being built at the Ginetta factory in Leeds and will be powered by a sealed Ford 1800cc Zetec engine, running on standard Michelin road tyres and the race car complies with all motorsport regulations for safety laid down by the sport’s international governing body, the FIA.

With all the cars having identical equipment the Ginetta G40 Junior championship is a showcase for developing young motor racing talent and for Brad it could be the next step for the 15-year-old as he makes his way up the motorsport ladder.

Brad Bailey collects 2009 MSA British Junior Rallycross Championship

The 2009 MSA British Rallycross Awards dinner, held at Sutton Coalfield on 30th January 2010, was attended by over 230 guests. Nicky Grist was on hand to help present the awards to championship winners, and Brad collected his trophy after sealing the 2009 MSA British Junior Rallycross Championship in his first full season.

At the awards, Brad was asked about his plans for the future, and chose the occasion to announce that he wouldn’t be defending his Rallycross title, but that he would be concentrating on a new challange by making the switch to Ginetta Juniors. Brad did however reveal that he would compete in some Rallycross events, but clashes in dates prevented him from being able to attend enough meetings to defend his title in full.

Brad Bailey and his 2009 double Championship and 2009 Junior Rallycross Superprix winning car will be at the Autosport International Racing Car Show which takes place at the Birmingham NEC on 14-17 January 2010.  Brad’s car will be on the PSM Motorsport Ltd / Fuchs Open Rallycross Championship stand for all 4 days of the show.

Brad and his car will be on stand 7530 in Hall 7 at the show. Brad, as 2009 Junior Open Rallycross Champion,  will be representing the 2010 Fuchs Rallycross Open Championship alongside ‘Mad Mark’ Watson, the 2007 & 2008 Division 1 Rallycross Open Champion, with his Citroen Xsara, and the RX150 Open Champion Andy Scott.

Brad Bailey 2009 Open Junior Rallycross Champion

Brad received his 2009 Open Junior Rallycross Championship trophy at the awards dinner on Saturday 28th Novmber 2009. The awards were presented to class Champions at the event held at The Best Western Rippon Spa Hotel.  Further pictures from the evening can be found atthe following links

Pictures1

and

Pictures2.

Brad added a further Championship title at the final round at Croft on 31 October 2009. In a mature drive, Brad let a determined Quinn through on the penultimate lap of the A final to secure a safe second place. This gave Brad more than enough points to beat Championship rival Keifer Hudson to the Open Junior Rallycross title.

Brad Seals 2009 Junior Open Championship

Going into the final round with a 7 point lead, Brad was always favourite to take the title, but with a maximum 24 points on offer nothing was guaranteed. Brad got off to a good start by setting fastest lap in an unusual timed practice session, beating Simon Quinn by half a second and Keifer Hudson by a full second. This secured Brad a point towards the Championship.  He added a further point by winning the first heat, but in the second heat clipped the types at the hairpin on the last corner of the last lap, handing victory to title rival Hudson. Brad broke a draft shaft and bent the steering arm in the incident, which fortunately were replaced in time for the A final.

Hudson gained a point for his victory in the 2nd heat and also inherited pole position, giving him a further point.  Going into the A final then, the title rivals had 2 points each and the gap of 7 points in the title positions remained unchanged.  Brad had to secure 4th place or better to guarantee Championship honours.

In the A final, Brad led Quinn all the way, with Hudson somewhat a distant 3rd. But Quinn’s pressure was unrelenting, and Brad showed great maturity and composure to let Quinn through in the knowledge that 2nd place guaranteed him a 2nd Championship title this year, adding to the British Junior Rallycross Championship title he secured at Pembrey.

Report from final round British / BTRDA Rallycross Championship, courtesy of Chris Manning

WHILST one British racing driver by the name of Jenson Button was experiencing good luck in Brazil winning the Formula One world title last Sunday, another at the other end of the motorsport spectrum, was having more bad luck in one day at the Mallory Park circuit in Leicestershre than he has had all year.

Fifteen-year-old Brad Bailey, from Maldon, was competing in the final of the British rallycross championship and having recently been crowned the British Junior rallycross champion at the previous round in Pembrey, was attempting to seal the BTRDA (British Trials and Rally Drivers Association) Junior rallycross title as well.

But a catalogue of non-finishes in his 100cc Mini running in the Junior rallycross section for young drivers aged 14 to 16, saw him miss out on vital points scored in the heats in order to make the finals and score championship points.

Throughout the year Brad has travelled the length and breadth of the country including Ireland, competing in rounds of the championship and had built up a healthy points lead. But Mallory Park was to be his nemesis when in the second heat of the day his engine coil expired mid-race and in the next another electrical problem did not see him finish.

Worse was to come when after finishing one heat the head gasket blew, meaning a hurried engine strip for his pit already harassed pit crew and he duly made his next heat only for the throttle cable to break on his 1000cc Mini a lap before the chequered flag.

The team finally called it a day when a suspected holed piston drastically reduced the power of his engine and with no times set in the BTRDA championship heats meant he had no chance of making the final and scoring points to win the title.

All is not lost for Brad as on October 31 he travels to the Croft circuit near Darlington for another bite of the cherry to compete in the final round Open Junior rallycross championship, which has been running con-currently with the other two championships and with a good result should see him crowned champion in this Junior rallycross series.

Rounds 6 & 7 of the British Junior Rallycross Championship at Pembrey, sponsored by Bill Gwynne Rallyschool, saw Brad finish 1st and 3rd to put the Championship out of reach of closest rival Simon Quinn.

Brad leads title rivals Quinn and Hudson at Pembrey

Although Quinn challenged hard, Brad remained calm and reaped the rewards from a mature and accomplished driving performance.

The British Championship now moves on to the final round at Mallory Park, but accounting for dropped rounds, even a win for Quinn and non finish for Brad will still see Brad crowned Champion in arguably the most coveted Championship out of the 3 that the Juniors compete for. And although technically Brad had sealed the British Junior Rallycross Championship, ironically a protest from Simon Quinn meant that Brad’s engine was also sealed.

Rounds 5 and 6 of the BTRDA Championship were a bit less eventful at Pembrey, with Brad taking the chequered flag first on both days, to give him another armful of trophies and a mass of maximum points.

Round 5 of the Bill Gwynne British Junior Rallycross Championship at Lydden saw Brad extend his championship lead by posting fastest time of the day and winning the A final.

Brad overcame technical difficulties in the morning to put in a strong performance in the afternoon qualifying heats to achieve pole position for the A final of the BRDA British Championship. Lap 2 in the final saw championship rival Simon Quinn drift wide into Chesson drift, and spin after Brad unavoidably made contact with Quinn’s mini. Unfortuantely for Quinn, his mini was collected head on by Keifer Hudson, which put both of them out of contention for the restarted A final. Brad won the restarted final comfortably ahead of Andrew Patterson.

However, the August bank holiday meeting  didn’t all go Brad’s way. The techincal problems ruined Brad’s chances of extending his BTRDA championship lead, (round 4 of the BTRDA championship was running alongside round 5 of the BRDA championship) with his mini stopping on the last lap in heat 1, and then extended repairs to replace the coil and distribuor meant he missed the BTRDA second heat as well. With only one qualifying time (a win in heat 3), Brad failed to qualify for the A final and pick up points towards his championship tally. It’s likely that this will become a dropped round as a consequence.

There was a slight saving grace in that Andrew Patterson managed to pip Simon Quinn to victory in a closely contetested BTRDA A final, thereby denying Quinn maximum points.

British BRDA Juniors A Final, Round 5 Results: 1st Brad Bailey; 2nd Andrew Patterson; Simon Quinn / Keifer Hudson DNS

BTRDA Juniors A Final Round 4 Results: 1st Andrew Patterson; 2nd Simon Quinn; Keifer Hudson DNS; Brad Bailey DNQ

Following on from his double win at Blyton, Brad took another clean sweep of winners trophies in rounds 6 & 7 of the open championship, at last weekends double header at Pembrey race circuit, in Carmarthenshire, South Wales.

Brad took 47 out of a possible maximum 48 points over the weekend to take the lead from Keifer Hudson at the top of the Open Championship table. The championship is now wide open heading to the final round at Croft in October, where points must count towards the final total.

Open Round 6 – Saturday 25th July 2009

Round 6 on Saturday saw Simon Quinn perform well in the early heats, taking victory in Fuchs Challenge heat 1 and Open championship heat 2. But it was Brad that dominated the rest of the heats winning the other 4 races. Quinn’s day finished in heat 2 of the Fuchs challenge with a blown engine, after having given Brad a large nudge in Heat 2 of the Open Championship.

Having sealed pole for both the Fuchs and Open “A finals” (the Open A final is shown in the video above) Brad won both comfortably ahead of the depleted field.

Open Round 7 – Sunday 26th July 2009

Sunday’s round 7 saw Brad win all the heats that were run, and complete the perfect day by sealing victory in both finals. The Fuchs Challenge proved eventful even with only two cars remaining, as Brad led on the penultimate lap then lost control and spun. He regained track position behind the only other remaining competitor, Paul Barrett, but Barrett himself then lost control for Brad to regain the lead and take the chequered flag, sealing his 5th Fuchs Junior Rallycross Challenge win in only 7 rounds.

The Open Championship A final win, together with victories in all heats saw Brad pick up a maximum 24 points for the round, the first driver to do so this year. The maximum points victory takes Brad into a 7 point lead in the Open Junior Rallycross (Chris Birkbeck Rallyschool) championship, ahead of Keifer Hudson in his newly liveried white 553 mini.

And next…

Attention now turns to the MSA British Championship (BRDA & BTRDA) with round 5 at Lydden circuit “the home of British Rallycross” in Kent, on August 31st bank holiday Monday. There it is expected that Brad will compete again with Hudson and Quinn for winners honours and maximum championship points.

Brad continued to show his class with domination of both the Fuchs and Open Championship events at Blyton Circuit.

Brad took wins in 5 out of 6 heats, securing pole position for both the Fuchs A final and the Open Championship round 5 A final. Brad already enjoyed success last time out at Blyton on 17th May (round 4), where he won both finals on that occasion too.

The finals were a tense close affair, with the Open Championship final in particular providing plenty of controversy, with Brad and championship rival Keifer Hudson having a coming together on the penultimate lap. (A protest from the Hudson camp was lodged, and after careful deliberation the officials decided not to uphold it and classed it as a racing incident – though as always with these things it could have gone either way). Still, on the last lap, Brad had it all to do with Chris Ingram putting in a good drive having taken full advantage of the coming together. With Ingram now leading into the last lap, Brad caught him on the final corner to pip him to the chequered flag.

Brad now closes the gap on Hudson at the top of the Open Championship table, just 5 points adrift of the lead with 3 rounds remaining. See tables here.