BRONZED and refreshed from his recent sortie to the Caribbean for the Barbados Rally Carnival, Leeming rally driver Kevin Procter showed no signs of jet lag as he successfully contested two prestigious events back in England last weekend.

Behind the wheel of his Group A Subaru as his favoured Ford Puma Evo 4x4 was on its way back across the Atlantic, Procter and Northallerton co-driver Mike Gilby ventured to Mansfield for the Rainworth Skoda Dukeries Rally.

Despite the hot and dusty conditions in the Sherwood Forest complex, the pair came away with second place overall, just over a minute down on the Hyundai Accent WRC of winners Graham Middleton and John Roberts.

Procter then made the short journey north to Blyton in Lincolnshire for the Midlands Master Rallycross event on Sunday. He entered both the Modified class in the Motoscope Lotus Exige and the Supercar class in the Subaru he'd used for the Dukeries Rally the day before.

Procter managed to win two of the heats in the Lotus and was placed second on the grid for the A final, getting a great start to lead early on before the race was red-flagged. In the re-run, Procter was again up at the front and challenging when a misfire relegated him to fourth at the finish.

Despite having only half the power of the more advanced cars in the Supercar class, Procter still managed a respectable sixth in the A final with some spirited driving.

Also in action at Blyton was Northallerton's Dave Bellerby, who used the Lotus on Saturday in the two-wheel drive trophy. He won every heat and took victory in the final to claim the £1,000 prize money as well as the silverware.

On Sunday, Bellerby resorted to his Simon Bailes-sponsored Peugeot 206, which showed massive improvements since it's last outing at Croft at the beginning of May.

Although he encountered a bent exhaust during practice which ruled him out of the opening heat, he claimed outright wins in the next two heats which placed him fourth on the grid for the A final directly behind teammate Procter.

Bellerby didn't get the best of starts in either the first attempt or the re-run and had to settle for second in the Modified final in what was declared the most entertaining final the Rallycross Superseries has witnessed.

As well as Procter, there was plenty of local interest on the Dukeries Rally in round six of the Silverstone Tyres BTRDA Rally Championship.

The 45-stage mile event took in the forests of Clipstone, Blidworth and Portland as well as the Rainbow Hill stage to the north of Sheffield as a capacity 130 entry took to the start at Mansfield Civic Centre.

After a day of high-speed action in the fast and dusty forests, it was Bishop Auckland's Tristan Pye and Scottish co-driver Kirsty Riddick who led home the Group N field in their JPM Subaru Impreza, finishing seventh overall.

Exelby's Chris Lewis and co-driver Jon Dunning from York enjoyed a trouble-free day in their MSR Mitsubishi Lancer to claim 24th overall and tenth in class, with Stokesley's James Bullock guiding driver Wayne Radford to 35th overall and 14th in class in their Mitsubishi.

Former champion Mark Constantine from Richmond was back in action in his Ewall Technology Vauxhall Corsa and, along with Hartburn co-driver Ian Jackson, he brought the little 1400cc car home in 44th place overall and third in class.

Durham's Ken Bills claimed 49th overall and sixth in class alongside young Scottish driver David Bogie (Vauxhall Nova), while Northallerton shopkeeper Darren Grimston continued his good form by claiming 58th overall and ninth in class in his two-litre Electrocare/Nick Hunt Forestry-sponsored Ford Escort.

West Rounton driver Chris Blake and co-driver Tony Walker from Richmond brought their Northallerton Tyre and Battery Ford Escort Cosworth home in 54th position overall and 16th in class, but a few local crews failed to see the finish ramp.

Boldon's Gavin Spencer and Ingleby Barwick co-driver Steve Waggett got no further than SS1 when the ignition module broke on their Vauxhall Nova. It was another setback for the pair after their big accident in Somerset a couple of months ago.

The Durham pairing of Garry Johnson and Phil Bond went out on SS4 with engine and gearbox problems in their Vauxhall Corsa and the Talbot Sunbeam of Bedale's Nick Dale and Kevin Hare stopped on the M1 after SS5 with engine problems.

There was no luck for the Ripon contingent of Charlie Payne and Paul Walker, who retired their respective Subarus. Payne and York co-driver Craig Thorley were placed 11th after the final stage, but the engine on their WRC gave out on the road section to the finish, while Walker and co-driver Colin Stockill, also from Ripon, saw their rally end on SS2 with brake problems.

As well as Grimston's success in his CS Rallysport-prepared Ford Escort, the Darlington-based team saw New Zealander Tony Green and Welsh co-driver Bill Robertson claim a deserved 14th overall and fifth in class in their Subaru Impreza, but that was as good as it got for the team.

The West Country pairing of Geoff Whittaker and Rachel Brockington crashed out halfway through the very last stage in their Ford Escort, while Michael Winter and Marvin Tate retired with a broken sump guard after SS4.

l More top quality racing cars head for Croft circuit this weekend for another action-packed weekend organised by the British Automobile Racing Club Ltd.

No less than 15 races will be contested around the North's premier race track over the two-day meeting which comprises rounds of a number of national and local championships.

The Corgi Legends series reaches the halfway point when round seven gets proceedings underway tomorrow afternoon, with Peter Morton from Cleckheaton at the head of the standings following a win last time out at Pembrey.

In the Formula Renault Championship, Camberley teenager Nick Wilcox heads the 2000cc class for Etek Motorsport, while Didcot's Ian Pearson will be looking to consolidate his lead in the club class in his Tatuus RC 97.

Classic Formula Ford cars will also be in action with series leaders David Gathercole and Colin Wright heading classes A and B respectively in the two-litre category, with Dave Lowe and Paul Walton doing likewise in the 1600cc class.

In addition to the MSA 250cc Long Circuit Kart Championship and the K & N Performance Filters Sports Saloon Championship, the meeting will be the popular Northern Sports and Saloon Car Championship's first visit to the circuit in the 2005 season and has attracted a bumper 40-car entry with 29 different models.

After the first four rounds at Knockhill, Oulton Park, Mallory Park and Knockhill again, it is no surprise to see three drivers tied for the lead in this competitive championship.

Tony Caig, Darren Flounders and Arthur Robinson head the standings, but expect the awesome Ford Fiesta of Chris Doherty to score some major points now he appears to have solved a few electrical problems.

The turbo-charged 2.0-litre engine develops some 650bhp and should be a match for local drivers Mark Campbell (Elan) and Robert Pritchard (Caterham) should it stay dry.

In the second race, Andrew Morrison will be expecting to continue last year's Croft dominance in the immaculate MGZR, although Tony Caig (Ford Focus), Stewart Whyte (Ford Escort Cosworth), Steven Ferguson (Nissan Pulsar) and Dave Botterill (Porsche 944T) will definitely give him a run for his money.

Practice gets underway at 9.45 tomorrow with the first of five races scheduled to start at 3.15. Sunday's action sees ten races starting at 12.05. Adult admission is £10 each day with accompanied children aged 15 and under admitted free