Bailey Cole is fairly new to rally raids, but has a shot at being the highest finishing American in Asia Cross Country Rally history if Saturday goes his way. After finishing eighth in Stage 7 on Friday, he moved past Ditsapong Maneein for third overall with one leg to go. However, he’ll need to fight to stay on the podium as the two are separated by less than two minutes.

Maneein entered Friday’s leg in third, just seven minutes behind Mana Pornsiricherd and a fairly comfortable 14 minutes on Cole. However, his Isuzu struggled mightily and he finished 21st, the first time all rally that he placed outside the top ten; his previous worst was seventh in Stages 2 and 5.

Meanwhile, Cole finished the stage 16 minutes ahead of Maneein to erase the margin and leapfrog him for the last step on the podium. While certainly nice to be in position for third, he leads Maneein by just a minute and 47 seconds so Cole has little margin for error.

Even if Maneein manages to take the spot back, Cole all but has the T2A-D class win locked up barring disaster in Stage 8. Thongchai Klinkate, the next closest car in the category, sits sixth and 42 minutes behind the American.

In the opposite direction, he probably won’t be catching Chayapon Yotha or Pornsiricherd in the overall unless both have problems. Pornsiricherd won Stage 7, but only whittled the gap on Yotha down from 14 to ten minutes as the latter finished right behind him.

“Today, I was able to follow my plan of maintaining as much speed as possible while avoiding risks and driving safely,” Yotha explained. “Tomorrow is the last day, but I’m not nervous. I heard it’s a flat, high-speed course so I’m looking forward to the start. I’ll stay focused and give it my all until the end.”

Yotha was the only driver of the Ralliart trio without issues Friday. Stage 5 winner Katsuhiko Taguchi suffered left rear suspension damage when he hit a tree, which he was unable to repair since service on track was limited to quick fixes or emergencies; consequently, he had to withhold his pace and lost ten minutes, dropping to sixth for the day. Kazuto Koide collided with another car in the closing moments and suffered some cosmetic damage, finishing 15th.

“While the gap between us and our rivals is narrow, Chayapon made a strong effort through the hardest parts in Leg 7,” commented Ralliart manager Hiroshi Masuoka. “All that’s left is the final day. We obviously won’t know until the finish, but I’d be happy if he can hold on to this.

“This is also the result of everyone on the team working together and supporting him. Chayapon is in top form, but we’ll be careful in checking even the smallest details at service stations to ensure he can complete the race without any issues. Holding the lead means he’s always being chased so there’s a lot of pressure, but he’s mentally strong and that’s reassuring.”

While the battle is close as ever for the cars, the fat lady’s warming up on the bike side. Yosio Ikemachi solidified his overall lead by winning the day, and now leads Jakkrit Chawtale by an hour and six minutes. Chawtale also has some breathing room for second with 15 minutes on Sumaetee Trakulchai, who in turn holds third with a 44-minute gap over M1 leader Takuya Izumoto.

Masahito Watanabe finally snapped the “dead heat” in Sidecar with Tetsuo Iwamoto on Friday. Both Urals usually race together but finish well after the time limit, leading to penalties that result in identical times. This was only exacerbated in Stage 5 when one of them suffered an engine failure moments after the start so they had to spend the leg and the rest day on Thursday getting it fixed.

On Friday, Watanabe broke out by setting the 22nd fastest time of all riders while Iwamoto received another DNF penalty, the latter a flat 16-hour time.

Stage 7 winners

Auto

Class	Overall	Number	Driver	Team	Total Time
T1D	1	101	Mana Pornsiricherd	Toyota Gazoo Racing Thailand	2:23:18
T1G	18	140	Motoaki Yamazaki	eTOHYO FLEX SHOW AIKAWA Racing	2:58:54
T1E	34	127	Chen Ho-Huang	i Taiwan Rally Team	3:54:29
T2A-D	8	142	Bailey Cole	Feeliq Innovation Motorsport	2:44:40
T2D	38	20	Yuichi Iijima	SRS-Osaka Welport Rally Team	4:27:22

Moto

Class	Overall	Number	Rider	Team	Total Time
M1	3	22	Takuya Izumoto	JISOK-RR	2:49:36
M2	1	16	Yoshio Ikemachi	Team Musashi International	2:49:36
M3	12	45	Khomsan Udomteekasiri	Ark Bar Samui	3:16:42
Sidecar	22	66	Masahito Watanabe	Rising Sun Racing	4:13:42

Leaders after Stage 7

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Class	Overall	Number	Driver	Team	Total Time
T1D	1	112	Chayapon Yotha	Team Mitsubishi Ralliart	15:34:38
T1G	14	136	Roslyn Shen	Propak GEOLANDAR Asian Rally Team	19:09:19
T1E	35	127	Chen Ho-Huang	i Taiwan Rally Team	44:01:29
T2A-D	3	142	Bailey Cole	Feeliq Innovation Motorsport	16:26:40
T2D	29	20	Yuichi Iijima	SRS-Osaka Welport Rally Team	32:02:20

Moto

Class	Overall	Number	Rider	Team	Total Time
M1	4	22	Takuya Izumoto	JISOK-RR	19:06:12
M2	1	16	Yoshio Ikemachi	Team Musashi International	17:01:08
M3	6	45	Khomsan Udomteekasiri	Ark Bar Samui	21:04:15
Sidecar	34	66	Masahito Watanabe, Masahiro Ozeki	Rising Sun Racing	60:43:42

Featured image credit: Carperonline