NORTHALLERTON duo Graeme Bell and Russ Radford were in fine form when they contested last Sunday’s Rainworth Skoda Dukeries Rally at Donington Park and came away with a solid fifth place overall.

Driving their Millington-powered 2.5-litre Ford Escort Mk2 in the first stage rally held at the iconic Midlands track since 1998, the pair were up against one of the strongest fields assembled in recent times and got off to a steady start to hold sixth in the early stages.

With sunshine and mild temperatures encouraging thousands of spectators along, Bell and Radford held sixth place at half distance, but it was another local 2.5-litre Ford Escort Mk2 crew who were challenging for the victory after the opening four fast and furious stages around the famous race track.

Ian Woodhouse and Paul Rowlands, from Hutton Rudby, had trailed Bell and Radford on the opening 6.5-mile test, but with a concerted effort on the next three stages, they had moved up to second place overall in what was proving to be a titanic battle.

However, their challenge was over when the gear linkage broke on the very next stage, which forced them out and left Bell and Radford to take up the battle. Another pair of consistent times on SS5 and SS6 saw the North Yorkshire pairing maintain their push and, as darkness started to fall, a superb effort on the final two stages saw them eventually climb up to fifth overall and third in class.

Eggleston co-driver Joe Hutchinson was a late call-up for Northallerton’s Larry Carter in their Peugeot 206 and they came away with 39th overall and sixth in class, while Pickhill’s Chris Pattison continued his busy co-driving schedule to end up 58th overall and 15th in class out of the 66 finishers in the Peugeot 205 he was sharing with Kevin Neal.

TOP class National Rallycross action will come to Croft Circuit next month when Darlington and District Motor Club organises the final round of the 2015 Autosport International BTRDA National Rallycross Championship on Sunday, November 15.

With just a week to go until entries officially close, the event has already attracted a top-quality entry of more than 60 cars, with drivers from all over the UK and Ireland, plus some international flavour with drivers from Norway and Belgium also on the list.

Heading the entry so far is Barnard Castle hotelier "Mad" Mark Watson driving his 550bhp Citroen Xsara. The local driver heads a strong line-up, including last year’s class champion Simon Horton, current championship leader Gary Pusey, British and European Championship competitor Mark Flaherty and, making his debut in the class, Devon's Jack Thorne driving a recently-acquired Ford Focus T16.

Local drivers are well-represented throughout all classes, including the diverse Super Modified class, where Newcastle trio Michael Boak (Audi TT), Brian Jukes (Audi TT) and Phil Chicken (Citroen C2) will all be hoping for a strong result. This class is likely to field 30 competitive cars and among them will be returning European drivers Herbjorn Haug (Norway) in his Ford Puma and Jos Sterkens (Belgium) in his turbo-charged Volvo C30.

In the extremely competitive production class, Martin Peters, from Ingleby Barwick, Chop Gate’s John Gaskin and Conor Hook, from Chester le Street, will be looking for success against the other 25 cars in the class. The class features drivers from all over the UK and Ireland, in production-based vehicles which make the racing very close.

Also included on the entry list is Ian Horn, from Stokesley, who will drive his Vauxhall Nova in the Historic class, father and daughter Marty and Jennie Hawkes, from Stockton, who race in the BMW Mini class, and a whole host of Newcastle-based drivers in the Autocross class.

With the overall BTRDA Championship and all class titles still up for grabs, and double points being awarded, this will certainly be an event not to be missed. Tickets cost £8 in advance from croftcircuit.co.uk. For more information, visit clubmansrallycross.weebly.com.

BEDALE’S Megan Stephenson was in action recently at the PFI kart racing circuit near Grantham, where she again came away with a string of encouraging results.

Qualifying didn’t go well for the 11-year-old after a mistake lost her the tow from the main pack and, as a result, she lined up in 21st place for the opening race. From there, she was making good progress until an abortive overtaking move saw her relegated down the order to finish in 21st place.

From a similar grid position in race two, Megan battled her way to 16th at the chequered flag, leaving her to start from 21st place on the grid for the all-important final. A great start saw her immediately make up places, and although she couldn’t make the break following a dice with another competitor, she drove brilliantly to claim a top 15 place at the finish.