SHILDON rally driver Barry Johnson justified making a last minute entry when he recorded a fine third place overall on the Jim Clark Memorial Rally held in Berwickshire last weekend.

Driving the Barrier Surveillance WRC specification Subaru Impreza, Johnson recruited ANCRO champion co-driver John Bennie to read the maps instead of his usual sidekick Peter Croft and the pairing marked their debut with a steady rise up the leaderboard on the two-day event.

The rally - which should have formed part of the subsequently cancelled 2001 British Championship - also attracted a number of local crews who enjoyed varying fortunes.

There was drama straight away on the opening stage, a 15-mile test in the closed tarmac lanes around Kelso, as three of the region's teams made it no further than SS1.

One of the pre-event favourites, Ryan Champion from Castleton and stand-in co-driver Ian Windress from Northallerton, suffered engine problems in their Mitsubishi Lancer, while Richmond brothers Mark and Andy Constantine also went out on the opening stage in their WA Browne Vauxhall Nova.

The Bishop Auckland pairing of Ian and Andrew Legge encountered problems and retired their Ford Escort at the end of the stage.

As the cars headed for the overnight halt in Duns, Johnson was in fourth place, 46 seconds down on the leader, but looking forward to the following day's daylight tests.

Debuting their Motoscope-prepared Ford Puma Evo 4x4 on the tarmac of the Borders region were Osmotherley businessman David Brown and his co-driver Paul Hudson from Darlington.

The pair held 11th overnight, just over 30 seconds down on Johnson, while Bishop Auckland's Tristan Pye was showing good pace in his Proton Compact, less than 30 seconds further back in 21st overall.

Fellow Bishop Auckland driver Mark Thompson and Barnard Castle co-driver St John Dykes set 28th fastest time in their Peugeot 205, with Melsonby's Barry Pittaway and co-driver Andrew Tatham of Newton Aycliffe 39th in their Nissan Sunny.

Stokesley driver Alun Pearson suffered problems on the stage and could only manage 79th fastest time in his Nova, just five places ahead of fellow Stokesley residents Jonathan Brown and James Lester in a similar car.

Early mist gave way to bright sunshine early on Saturday morning, but the remaining crews had to contend with damp roads as the event restarted.

Johnson dropped some time with a misfire on the opening couple of stages, while Brown started his climb up the leaderboard. At first service Johnson was sixth, 26 seconds in front of Brown, while Pye and rookie co-driver Roger Herron dropped to 26th.

Thompson was 32nd, one place in front of Pittaway, with Pearson charging up to 59th and Jonathan Brown in 78th.

Johnson edged up to fifth during the second leg of the day and Brown climbed to seventh, while Pye lurked in 24th and Pittaway encountered more problems to leave him in a lowly 48th at one point.

Thompson's car suffered engine failure on SS6 and Pearson's rally came to an end after suffering problems on SS8 after clawing his way up to 35th overall.

On the final loop, Johnson upped the pace to scoop fourth on SS10 and then claimed third a stage later, where he remained until the finish. Brown dropped some time on SS10 before a late push netted him a class win on his way to fifth overall, just over a minute down on Johnson.

Pye ended up an impressive 17th overall to claim second in the fiercely competitive 1600cc class, some 67 seconds back from the winner, while Pittaway clinched 22nd overall and second in class A7 in his two-litre front-wheel drive car.

Another driver taking second in class was Jonathan Brown. He came home 48th overall out of the 64 finishers.

l Scorton driver Steve Petch and Northallerton's John Richardson overcame a number of difficulties to finish seventh on the Cambrian Rally in North Wales last weekend.

Still ironing out teething troubles with their Hyundai Accent WRC, the pair endured transmission problems on the opening tarmac stage on Friday night. They dropped way down the order and their situation was compounded on SS2, which was cancelled due to an accident.

They were awarded a nominal time which left them last overall, but a concerted charge through the Welsh forests on Saturday saw Petch climb back up to seventh, claiming sixth in class prior to his next outing on the Network Q Rally GB later this month.

Also in pre-Network Q action was Kepwick businessman Peter Stephenson, who continued his familiarisation of the car by driving his newly-acquired Subaru P6 WRC to 13th overall and ninth in class on the BTRDA Championship event.

Exelby's Chris Lewis brought the Food Weighouse Mitsubishi home in 22nd overall on his way to fifth in class.

l The Hare and Hounds Enduro, run by the Army Motorcycle Association at Alamein Barracks near Driffield last Sunday, saw 272 riders take to the start on an unseasonably warm and sunny day.

The course was a well run, well laid out ten-mile test including bogs, woodland, jumps and hillclimbs which had to be traversed as many times as possible in three hours.

In the over 40s class for the first time and riding his Honda CR250, Romanby's Duncan Wallace completed eight laps in the allotted time, including two pit stops for fuel.

The project engineer only had one spill, when he got tangled with a slower rider on a hillclimb, and despite not racing for ten months he finished 51st overall and fifth in class.

Pete Marshall from Northallerton aboard a Suzuki DR400 had a good run to complete six laps with time to spare and finished 111th overall in only his third race meeting