Croft - Round 4

Ant felt as though he was starting to find his feet in the championship and adjusting to the 'mini touring car' that is the new clio cup race car. He had a Friday practise session prior to the weekend along with the rest of the field.

Saturday qualifying was a big focus this weekend for Ant because he knew that his race pace was up there with the top 15 drivers. For the majority of the session Ant was switching between 8th and 9th position with his team mate and good friend Ciaran Butler. As it neared the end of the session Ant decided to have one last attempt at a quicker lap to bump him further up the grid but his lap was ruined by a slow car!

Saturday's race saw him start alongside his team mate in 14th position. Ant had decided he was going to push hard in the short race to try to earn as good a starting position as possible for Sunday. The race went well jumping to 12th off the line. Ant then proceeded to hunt down Cleland who was in front of him. It didn't take long for Ant to catch him and execute a tidy move at the hairpin to move up in to 11th place. Ants pace was very good and then set his mind on catching the next car. This didn't much time and nearly as soon as Ant caught Carl Bradley he slipped up the inside of him at 'Sunny In', a really brave but controlled move under braking.

There was no more time to make anymore places but 10th was a good result and Ant was happy to have posted a quicker lap time than his team mate, and former clio cup race winner, Mark Speller. More proof that Ant had excellent 'race pace'.

Sunday saw Ant starting from 20th alongside Barry Benham and Jamie Cleland just behind. Two drivers you would pay money not to be next to for turn one!!

Sure enough Ant received a whack from behind at the first corner, which sent him in to a sideways slide. Ant captured the car and managed to avoid the tyres and the parked car of Andrew Jordan. Ant realised that two groups were starting to form and he wanted to 'tag' on the back of the fast lead group. Finlay Crocker was holding Ant up, but at 'Sunny in' the Scot ran very deep and Ant managed to get the car turned and chucked it up the inside of him to snatch 13th place.

The race settled after this and Ant was set on closing the small gap from himself to the top 12, which was running as one large lead group. The 20 year old was pulling Aaron Smith along with him to the back of the front runners. The pair had real pace and were closing in on the back of James Williams' car.

It was at the end of lap 3 when Smith made an ambitious lunge on Ant at the hairpin. Ant saw it coming and gave him room and of course Smith ran very deep in to the hairpin which allowed Scragg to cut back on the Irishman with a better run down the pit straight. The pair were side by side approaching the tight first corner when Smith gave Ant a deliberate bang in an attempt to make more room for himself going in to the corner. In the process he turned himself round on Ant's Front end and broke the FSR drivers steering, which resulted in both cars burying themselves in the gravel.

Smith was reprimanded for his driving, but obviously this doesnt help Ant's cause. Scragg remained positive about the weekend although he collected no points.