SHILDON'S Barry Johnson recorded his second win of the month by taking a comfortable victory on the UK Rally Challenge 3 at Knockhill in Fife last weekend.

Driving his Barrier Subaru Impreza WRC and partnered by national champion co-driver John Bennie, Johnson ended up 12 seconds clear after an intense battle over eight stages around Scotland's premier racing circuit near Dunfermline.

With rain starting to fall and top seed Ray Munro not making the first stage, Johnson was first away.

He posted a time on SS1 some seven seconds faster than anyone else and added another two stage wins during the morning.

Johnson continued his charge in the afternoon, with fastest times on stages six and seven. Despite a near collision on a stage split on the final stage, the former trials rider held on for victory to add to his Lion Stages success a couple of weeks ago.

Consett's Stephen Robson guided driver Ashley Reid to 11th place overall and third in class in their Mitsubishi Lancer to round off a successful day for the County Durham competitors.

* Great Broughton student Jonny Brown and his Harmby co-driver James Lester emerged victorious from the long trip to Wales when they took a fine class win on the Red Dragon Rally based near Port Talbot last Saturday.

The pairing took advantage of BTRDA championship leaders Mark and Andy Constantine, from Richmond, not contesting the event to win class B9 in their Stokesley Motors-backed Vauxhall Nova. The win edged them to the head of the class championship tables after five events.

But with championship rules stipulating drivers can drop their worst score, the Constantine brothers are still in with a good chance of regaining the title they won in 2000, although Brown and Lester are now proving to be formidable opponents in the 1400cc class.

l Following a superb victory at the national qualifying meeting near Wakefield the previous weekend, reigning champion Martyn Tinker's title defence got off to the worst possible start when he failed to score in the opening round of the British Autograss series at Green Hammerton, near York, last weekend.

Armed with a new Millington engine for his rapid Renault Clio, the Catterick driver had to overcome the mud and more than 400 rivals. But it was an electrical gremlin with the ECU, which caused the car to keep cutting out, which resulted in non-qualification for the finals.

However, with drivers having to drop one score out of the five rounds, Tinker is hopeful that he can score in the next four rounds, the last one being held on home ground at Kiplin, near Scorton, in early September.

Meanwhile, he heads off to the MAP Open at Stratford this weekend for three days of action.

* Eight times world champion Steve Webster, from Easingwold, saw his chances of a ninth success suffer a blow when he was forced out of the fourth round of the Superside FIM Sidecar world championship at Silverstone last weekend.

Webster and passenger Paul Woodhead qualified in pole position and had built up a commanding lead aboard their 1200cc Suzuki outfit when engine problems sidelined the pair on the penultimate lap.

It was their first retirement of the season after scoring points in the opening round in Spain before winning in South Africa and then finishing runners-up in the previous round in Italy.

Webster - awarded the MBE a few years ago for services to the sport - now goes into next weekend's race in Germany in fifth place, 16 points down on championship leaders Steve Abbott and Jamie Biggs.

Meanwhile, another pair of local sidecar aces are in the Isle of Man preparing for the TT races, the first of which gets underway tomorrow.

Scotton's Greg Lambert and Tony Thirkell, from Rainton, will be hoping for success as they tackle the infamous 37.75-mile mountain course in both three-lap sidecar TTs.

Lambert led the race by 17 seconds back in 1997, only to break down on the last lap, but his best result of third came in 1999.

Thirkell posted 11th place in 2000, which netted him a prized bronze replica, and both drivers will be hoping to improve in tomorrow's race and the second leg on Monday.

Hutton Rudby rider Herbie Robinson represents the local solo challenge at the festival and he too will be hoping to improve on his two top-ten placings this year.

* Exelby businessman Chris Lewis put his local knowledge to good use when he took victory in the Dunlop Mini Miglia race at Croft last weekend.

The co-owner of The Food Weighouse and part-time rally driver overcame a host of similar cars to win the ten-lap race by just over a second.

Australian James Courtney, one of the F1 Jaguar team's test drivers, recorded a victory in the F3 race ahead of American Richard Antinucci and Irish driver Michael Keohane, while Britain's Ian McKellar and Brazilian Thomas Erdos took the chequered flag in the shortened GT race in their 7000cc Saleen S7-R.

l The UK's governing body for motor sport, the MSA, has recently announced the re-introduction of the British Rallycross Championship for 2003. It will be run over ten events between March and October.

Following its introduction in 1976, the series ran successfully until the title was withdrawn in 1996 when the BRDC re-launched its own championship after re-organisation within the sport.

Local drivers were well to the fore in the sport's heyday, with Darlington drivers Mark Rennison (twice) and Michael Shield winning the title in the late 80s.

* The British Superbike Championship resumes at Snetterton, Norfolk this weekend, with local riders back in action including Mark Burr from Darlington, Paul Veazey of Middlesbrough and Yarm's Russ Hodgson.

Dennis Hobbs from Guisborough will be riding in the Superstock race, but Leyburn's James Brackenbury is forced to sit out the next few rounds of the Junior Superstock series due to budget restraints.

l Rally action this weekend is in the Ludlow Castle Mutiny Rally, which forms round four of the Kumho Tyres Championship.

Heading the locals will be Steve Petch and John Richardson in their Hyundai, while Charlie Payne and Craig Thorley (Mitsubishi) and Anth Eaton and Ian Jackson (Escort) also make the trip to Builth Wells