KENT driver Pat Doran won the opening round of the BRDA Rallycross Championship, organised by Darlington and District Motor Club and held at Croft last weekend.

The 42-year-old triumphed despite a day of problems in his Ford RS200 Supercar. An intermittent power steering failure caused him to spin out of his first two qualifying heats, but he had rectified the problem sufficiently by the final heat to record the fastest time of the day and place himself on row two for the Supercar A final.

As the lights turned green, Doran outdragged the all-Irish front row, comprising the Ford Focus of reigning champion and heat one winner Dermot Carnegie, heat two winner and 2000 champion Lawrence Gibson (MG Metro 6R4) and the ex-Will Gollop Peugeot 306 of John McCluskey, to lead into the first corner.

He went on to clinch victory ahead of Carnegie. McCluskey held on for third just ahead of Gibson, with John Cross (Ford Focus) and Middlesbrough's Ken Hall (Escort Cosworth) completing the top six.

Supercar A final result: 1 Pat Doran (Ford RS200) 3min 47.48sec; 2 Dermot Carnegie (Ford Focus) 3:50.06; 3 John McCluskey (Peugeot 306) 3:53.92; 4 Lawrence Gibson (MG Metro 6R4) 3:55.00, 5 John Cross (Ford Focus) 4:01.26; 6 Ken Hall (Ford Escort) 4:15.30; 7 Steve Mundy (Ford Focus) 4 laps; 8 Terry Briggs (Audi TT) 1 lap.

In the modified category, local ace Dave Bellerby from Little Langton was the man on form, taking victory in all three of his heats. Driving the 1600cc Kevin Franks-prepared Vauxhall Nova, Bellerby overcame a stiff challenge from Mike Manning and reigning champion Dave Ward in a Corsa.

Ward was embroiled in a physical battle with Aiskew driver Paul Broatch and Hartlepool's Des Wheatley, which led to a reprimand from the clerk of the course.

Starting from pole, Bellerby struggled to get the power down and Manning led into Clervaux followed by the Vauxhall Tigra of Chris Evans.

Bellerby was relegated to fourth but had moved up to second within a lap after disposing of the challenge of Wheatley.

Meanwhile, former stock car racer Broatch was left struggling back in fifth place when the window washers on his Peugeot 205 failed. The garage owner dropped down the order as he struggled for vision, while Bellerby found himself stuck in fourth gear for the final two laps after the gear linkage broke.

Wheatley's Rover Metro inherited third place when Evans crashed out on the home straight, but it wasn't a good day for Great Broughton driver Stewart Bowes, whose 1400cc Mini suffered engine problems in the final heat, ruling him out for the day.

Modified A final result: 1 Mike Manning (Ford Fiesta) 4:09.43; 2 Dave Bellerby (Vauxhall Nova) 4:12.72; 3 Des Wheatley (Rover Metro) 4:16.16; 4 Chris Bellamy (Peugeot 205) 4:16.56; 5 Gordon Rogers (Vauxhall Nova) 4:17.17; 6 Dave Ward (Vauxhall Corsa) 4:21.42; 7 Paul Broatch (Peugeot 205) 4:32.98; 8 Chris Evans (Vauxhall Tigra) 2 laps.

Derbyshire driver Pat Flynn took the honours in the Stock Hatch category, while Braintree's Paul Wakeling won the Minicross encounter.

l The unexpected snow which fell recently proved unkind to local crews out on the Malcolm Wilson Rally held in the Lake District.

Pre-event favourites Steve Petch (Scorton) and John Richardson from Romanby suffered an electrical fault on their way to the opening stage, which forced their Hyundai Accent out before it had turned a wheel in anger.

More disappointment for the SGP Motorsport team came when Paul Bird and Northallerton co-driver Ian Windress rolled their Impreza out of the event on SS3 after a blazing run through the opening two tests.

More misery for the Darlington-based team surfaced when Stephen Petch junior retired his and co-driver Michael Wilkinson's Ford Ka with a broken driveshaft, while Bedale driver Bryan Gill's disastrous luck continued when his and co-driver Joyce Champion's (Castleton) rally ended on a tow rope after SS2.

Stokesley's Jonny Brown and co-driver James Lester were also early casualties when they went out with engine problems at first service.

A number of local crews did make it to the finish, headed by Sacriston driver David Henderson. Along with new co-driver Scott Poxon, he brought his MSR Mitsubishi home in ninth place overall and third in class.

Just one place behind were Shildon's Barry Johnson and co-driver Peter Croft from Middleton Tyas in their Barrier-backed Subaru Impreza.

They ended up just five seconds down on Henderson after the 45 stage miles, while Thirsk builder Ian Rudd and co-driver Steve Beilby brought their Ford Sapphire home in 19th place (ninth in class).

Richmond brothers Mark and Andrew Constantine maintained their lead at the head of the BTRDA Class B9 standings after another good result in their WA Browne Vauxhall Nova.

Running first on stage and acting as a snowplough for much of the morning, the pair dropped time early in the day until a change of tyres at service.

Deep snow caused problems in the opening Grizedale stage, leading to all competitors being awarded the same time, and then the clutch cable broke to leave them stuck in second gear for much of the second Grizedale test.

Eventually, after coaxing the car back to service, they finished 63rd overall and third in class to maintain their assault on both the BTRDA and 1400cc championships going into their local North Humberside event in two weeks time.

Just in front of the Constantines was Heighington's Guy Wilks, who used the event to shakedown his Ford Puma. With new co-driver Roger Herron alongside, Wilks endured overheating problems of his own.

He even stopped to help his rivals bump start their car when they had problems on a road section, but he eventually came home second in class and 60th overall.

Bishop Auckland driver Tristan Pye and co-driver Hayley Selby ended up third in class and 66th overall on their debut in their JP Motorsport Ford Ka, with Eaglescliffe's Ian Jackson guiding Londoner Peter Lewis to 84th overall in their CS Motorsport Peugeot 106.