STANLEY co-driver Jack Morton continued to cement his growing reputation when he guided multiple MSA champion Damian Cole to a super runner-up spot on last weekend’s IMGold Manx National Rally.

In their Ford Focus WRC, the pair overcame the treacherous conditions of Friday night to storm back into contention in Saturday’s drier stages to end up a minute adrift of Welshman Jason Pritchard and just ahead of reigning Manx champion Arron Newby.

Barnard Castle co-driver Giles Dykes was also successful as he guided David Tinn to tenth overall and fourth in class in their MEM Proton Satria Neo whilst for Brompton on Swale driver Geoff Wright, he and co-driver Chris Sanderson did well to claim 20th overall and third in class in their Nissan Almera.

Marton’s Geoff Glover and co-driver Keith Barker ended up 39th overall out of the 42 finishers, claiming ninth in class in their Vauxhall Astra but sadly for two other local crews, they failed to see the Douglas finish ramp. Bishop Auckland driver Tristan Pye and co-driver Andrew Falconer retired their Subaru with just two stages to go and Saltburn co-driver Neil Colman went out of the event in the Subaru he was sharing with Chris Ford as early as SS2.

NORTHALLERTON’S Drew Bellerby continues to lead the MSA Junior Rallycross Championship following round three at Pembrey in South Wales last weekend despite enduring mixed fortunes.

The 16-year-old took victory in the opening heat before a clash in heat two saw her non-finish. She bounced back in heat three with a victory and in the all important final, she added to her points tally by taking a superb third place in her Fuchs Titan Race and Sayers Road Tankers-backed Suzuki Swift.

Sister Paige claimed seventh in the SuperNational class with dad Dave, fresh from taking third place in the RX150s, finishing eighth in a similar Lotus Exige. In the Supercar class, Kevin Procter from Leeming qualified on pole position in his Procter’s Luxury Coaches Ford Fiesta but a broken driveshaft off the line cast him any chance of victory.

Stockton on Tees family saw Jennie Hawkes finish fourth in the Juniors, uncle Ashley had a good run in the Suzuki Swifts but dad Marty crashed out at high speed in the SuperNational event in his Peugeot 206, eventually being given the all clear after a check up in hospital.

BEDALE kart racer Megan Stephenson was in action at the PFI circuit in Lincolnshire last weekend where she was in action at the second round of the NKF championship.

With the circuit characteristics not suiting her size, the 11-year-old was at a disadvantage, not helped by discovering a problem with her engine being down on power during testing on Friday. The spare engine fitted for practice turned out to be also down on power so a replacement was borrowed from a rival team for Sunday’s race day.

On race day it was raining really heavily for the first two races but by the third race, it started to dry and for the final there was a dry track. Megan started race one from 13th on the grid but on the opening lap, she got hit from behind by another kart and dropped to last place. Despite the incident, she battled back to finish 18th at the flag.

In race two, she started in fifth on the grid and despite getting a poor start, she had battled her way up to ninth when once again, she was punted off track but again bounced back to finish the race in 22nd place as the errant driver causing the accident was later excluded.

Race three saw Megan go for intermediate tyres, but it proved a wrong choice as the track dried quickly meaning another 22nd place finish from 27th on the grid. In the final, she started in 25th place and after a race long battle; she ended up in a creditable 22nd once more.

THE John Overend Memorial Stages Rally took place at Melbourne near York last weekend with a number of local crews in action. Bedale’s Shaun Wilson and Chris Longster took eighth place overall in their Subaru, two places ahead of Topcliffe pair Nick Kitching and Andrew Trollope in their Ford Escort RS2000. Guisborough driver Dave Hornbrook and co-driver Ann Forster finished 12th in their Mitsubishi.

MOD Woodbridge near Ipswich was the destination for a couple of local crews and saw Northallerton’s Andrew and Georgina Smith finish a brilliant seventh overall whilst taking a class win in their Ford Escort. Fellow Northallerton competitors Graeme Bell and Russ Radford overcame problems to end up in 14th overall and second in class 4 in their Ford Escort RS2500.

REDCAR BEARS' League Cup return leg against Sheffield Tigers finally took place last week after the previous date was rained off. Track conditions were again far from ideal as it had been raining in the morning then rained again just before the meeting started.

This resulted in several riders slipping off including Bears Lasse Bjerre in heat one. He was able to ride in the re-run but was unable to come to terms with Sheffield’s guest rider Australian Josh Grajczonek who won the first of his four victories on the night. Heat two gave Ben Morley his first win since becoming a Bear whereas heat three saw a win for the Bears ‘Adam Roynan, who is racing on a temporary contract as replacement for the injured Hugh Skidmore and scored a total of eight points.

In heat four Bears captain Stuart Robson crashed out on the first bend and was disqualified from the re-start of the race, which Grajczonek won with a 5-1 score to give the Tigers a four point lead. Lasse Bjerre won heat six for the home side to split the points whilst Bears Matej Kus again split the points in heat seven. Heat eight gave the Tigers a 5-1 which increased their lead to eight points as the he scores were split again in heats nine and ten.

Grajczonak won heat 11 with team mate Andre Compton second and in heat 12 Robson came second, wearing the tactical Black and White helmet which scored double and split the points. The score line was now 31-43 and a win for the Bears was still achievable, however, with Sheffield winning heats 13 and 14, their score increased to 34-52.

Heat 15 saw the Bears split the points with the overall score 37-55. It was a disappointing meeting especially with Bears Rafal Konopka, who had suffered an arm injury, not riding and his place taken by Darlington’s Luke Crang who struggled with the difficult track conditions.