FORMER double British champion Jonny Milner, of Driffield, along with Northallerton codriver Ian Windress, saw off the opposition with a superb victory on last weekend’s Pirelli Tour of Cumbria Rally after a hectic day in a dry and dusty Kielder Forest which saw round two of the 2010 MSA Gravel Rally Championship take place.

After a day of drama on the Northumberland tracks, Milner’s Toyota Corolla WRC emerged over a minute to the good ahead of the SGP Motorsport- prepared Hyundai Accent WRC of Stephen Petch, of Hamsterley, and Northallerton’s multiple British Champion co-driver John Richardson with another local crew, that of Ripon’s Charlie Payne and codriver Craig Thorley, of Pocklington, whose justferries.comsponsored Ford Focus WRC came home in third place.

Milner and former national champion Windress were never headed as they was fastest out of the blocks on the opening stage and doubled their onesecond advantage over the Subaru WRC of former ANCRO champions Roger Duckworth and Mark Broomfield to two seconds after the day’s second stage in the Kielder complex.

At the first service at Carlisle Racecourse, Milner held sway over Duckworth by five seconds with Petch and Payne battling just over half a minute down as they scrapped it out for the final podium place. Milner continued to lead but on the next loop of stages, Duckworth suffered a puncture and dropped a minute, but worse was to follow when he went off the road on the penultimate stage, meaning his challenge was over and allowing Milner to take his first victory since the Manx International Rally in 2004.

As a result, Petch moved into the runner-up spot and crossed the Carlisle finish line just over a minute down whereas Payne, in only his second drive in the Ford Focus WRC, finished third to make it an all local podium.

Ripon driver Matthew Robinson and co-driver Darren Brown took an excellent fifth place and class win in their Ford Escort Mk2 to make it a good day for the region.

Milner and Windress lead the ANCRO Championship going into the next round which is the Severn Valley National Rally on June 5, with Petch and Richardson in second position while Payne at Thorley occupy third.

In the second round of the Dunlop Wonago British Historic Rally Championship, there were mixed fortunes for local crews as the Motoscope of Northallerton- prepared Ford Escort MkII of York crew Roger Kilty and Lynette Banks just edged out team-mates Charlie Taylor from Morton on Swale and Pickering co-driver Steve Bielby in their CTMS Ford Escort by a mere seven seconds as they took sixth and seventh place respectively.

Pickering pair Steve Magson and Geoff Atkinson had to overcome a problem in their Opel Ascona but still claimed a second in class, but it wasn’t such good news for Thirsk’s Tim Pearcey who, along with co-driver Sam Collis, rolled their Willowgreen Homes-backed Ford Escort Mk II after mixing it with the leaders in the early stages.

THE second round of the Quaife MSA British Rallycross Championship took place at Knockhill in Scotland last weekend, and saw Northallerton driver Dave Bellerby taking a pair of heat wins in the Suzuki Swift class. He was comfortably leading the final when the race was stopped and, in the restart, he dropped back to fourth before eventually claiming second at the flag to move into the lead of the series.

It was a similar story for Bellerby’s teenage daughter Paige, who recorded a pair of heat wins in the Junior class and was leading the final until she went wide entering the loose and dropped to second at the flag but like her father, has moved into the lead of the championship.

Morton on Swale’s Jonathan Bean was debuting his new Snigwig.co.uk-sponsored BMW at the event and won the first heat where he was leading the second heat quite comfortably when the bottom pulley split, cutting the oil cooler pipes and losing oil, meaning his day was at an end.

Over in Northern Ireland, Barnard Castle hotelier Mark Watson was in action in the opening round of the Fuchs Lubricants Rallycross Open Championship where the Jersey Farm Hotel-backed Citroen Xsara drover enjoyed a good weekend by claiming maximum points in the opening two rounds of the Open Championship, before winning the Northern Ireland Championship round as well as the Ulster Masters to cap a great weekend.

HARTBURN road racer Richard Ferguson suffered mixed fortunes at the second round of the British 125GP Championship held at Thruxton in Hampshire.

Qualifying a healthy 29th on the grid, his race didn’t go to plan. Heading into the second corner on the first lap, Ferguson took a tumble and due to the riders been grouped up behind, he got hit by another rider’s bike resulting in a fractured pelvis in two places.

Yarm-based South African Allan Venter finished 14th in the British Supersport race while Norton’s Michael Hill claimed 23rd in the 125cc race and Dennis Hobbs from Guisborough saw off his Thruxton jinx with a 18th place in the Superstock 1000 outing.

ENTRIES are rapidly arriving for the forthcoming SG Petch Tour of Hamsterley which takes place on next Sunday where the organisers, Stockton and District Motor Club, have around 40 entries so far and with a number of crews who did last year’s event expected to enter soon, they are hopeful of a good entry.

This year will see three stages in Hamsterley, with at least three miles not used last year and there is central service on hard standing in Barnard Castle visited twice plus two more stages in Stang.

The entry fee is the same as last year and more information can be found at www.tourofhamsterley.co.uk.

Meanwhile, this weekend will see the second running of the Whickham & District Motor Club ALM Stages Rally at South Tees Motor Sport Park on Bank Holiday Monday It will be the second running of the event aimed at novices and beginners to rallying, although, all competitors are welcome to contest the 24 competitive miles on excellent tarmac for just £175 with late entries still available. Starting at 9.15, spectators are welcome with no admission charge and there are still some entries available. Check out www.wdmc.org.uk for further information.

This Sunday sees Thirsk and District Motor Club holding a motocross meeting at Long Plain, Sutton Bank. The event is a round of the East Yorkshire Championship and there are classes for Experts A, B, C, D and Twinshock/Evo.

It also incorporates a round of the Circa 74/77, which is for bikes that are no older than 1974 or 1977 in each class. For entries and more information, contact Mark Reynolds at TDMC on 07811-513456.