BEDALE kart racer Megan Stephenson came away with a great result when she took part in the third round of the TVKC winter series at PFI Circuit, near Grantham, in Lincolnshire.

The meeting was not part of the Rotax Mini Max championship, which the 12-year-old usually contests, but she decided to enter the meeting for practice before the NKF championship, which starts in April.

It was raining all day on the Saturday, which meant a full day’s practice in the wet. It was still wet in the morning on race day as Megan qualified 15th out of 24 and second best in the rookie class.

In race one, the track was too dry for wet tyres, but still very slippery on slicks. Megan got a good start, but had dropped down the order within two laps due to the lack of grip, but worse was to follow when she was tagged by another kart, which caused her to run onto the slippery grass and drop more places.

In the end, she finished a disappointing 20th overall, meaning lots of work to do in the final.

With changeable conditions still in evidence, tyre choice was always going to be a gamble, but eventually the team chose to send Megan out on slicks and it proved an inspired choice.

She got a great start and was soon making up places before a slight mistake at the hairpin dropped her some time. Battling back into contention, she made it as high as 16th overall at the finish, taking with it first place in the rookie class to crown a great start to the season.

Supported again this season by the Benjamin Gautrey Foundation, Megan will next be in action in the fourth round of the TVKC winter series next month prior to the main priority, the NKF Championship, which gets underway in April.

THE healthy contingent of local competitors was celebrating the recent news that the MSA British Rallycross Championship, in association with Odyssey Battery, will be broadcast by BT Sport for the first time this year.

The new production and broadcast arrangements are centred on a series of one-hour highlight shows from championship events, with programmes produced by Globecast and screened on BT Sport, where rallycross joins a wide range of high-profile sports, including Moto GP, Indy Car, World Rally Championship, FIM Speedway World Championships and Formula E.

BT Sport is available through BT TV, BT broadband and the BT sport app, as well as through other providers.

British Rallycross Championship manager Tim Whittington, who lives in Darlington, believes the introduction of BT Sport to the championship is key for the development of the series.

He said: "The focus in 2016 is to deliver successful events and prepare the championship for the future. Having a quality TV product and a broadcaster who's engaged with the championship is a key part of that.”

Additional broadcasters may also show championship events during the 2016 season; news will be announced in due course.

The 2016 MSA British Rallycross Championship will be contested over eight rounds taking place across seven weekends from March to October. The opening round takes place at Croft Circuit on March 6, when five-time champion Julian Godfrey will take on a competitive field of Supercar rivals, including several drivers from the region.

More details are available at croftcircuit.co.uk.

Further to a successful season which saw them rapidly rise through the British Rallycross ranks, Northallerton sisters Paige and Drew Bellerby are preparing to do battle at the opening round at Croft in just two weeks' time.

Paige, 20, is planning a full season in the powerful supercharged 400bhp Lotus Exige which she took to victory in the final round of the SuperNational Championship at Croft last year, becoming the first female driver to win a round of the British Rallycross Championship. With a complete winter rebuild being undertaken, the Fuchs Titan Race and Sayers Road Tankers-backed driver is hoping for a good start at her local track to gain momentum for the season.

Meanwhile, her 17-year-old sister Drew is facing a race against time to get her newly-acquired 1600cc Suzuki Swift ready, following last season when she came so close to landing the junior championship.

Having led the title race for much of the season, the team had to rebuild the car following a major shunt at Lydden Hill last August. In the final round at Croft, Drew had to settle for second place in the all-important final, meaning she was denied the title by the narrowest of margins for the second year running.