EASTER Monday saw the annual Darlington & DMC-organised Sprint take place at Croft Circuit with a number of local competitors taking to the track for the opening round of the SBD Motorsport MSA Sprint Championship.

A regular rally co-driver, Pickhill’s Tracey Taylor-West took to the driver’s seat of her Lotus Elise and armed with her knowledge of the circuit, she put in some good practice laps which produced a pair of top three lap times in both practice sessions.

Setting two personal best lap times of the 1.9 mile loop, Tracey ended up third in class, just pipping Cleadon driver Jon Olds who had to settle for fourth in his VW Golf.

Darlington pairing Andrea Woodhouse and Mark Leybourne were also in action in the Westfield that they were sharing, and success went their way with victory for Leybourne in his class with Woodhouse claiming a fine third in class also.

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COUNTY Durham driver Chris Anderson recorded a career-best result when he took a fine 20th place overall on last weekend’s Howford Hydraulics Tarmac Stages Rally at Ingliston near Edinburgh.

The 17-year-old maintenance engineer, from Butterknowle near Bishop Auckland, was driving on only his third event, and along with co-driver Chris Thirling, from Durham, the pair made a great start in the Wilkinson Maintenance and John Cullerton & Sons-sponsored and MSR Motorsport-prepared ex- Guy Wilks Ford Puma S1600 around the former racetrack near the Scottish airport.

Battling against much more experienced crews, Anderson stuck to his task well to bring the car home inside the top 20 out of the 68 starters and in doing so, claimed a brilliant sixth place in class and with it, vital points in the AS Performance North of England Tarmac Rally Championship that he is contesting this season.

In addition, Chris picked up the award for best improvement on seeding following on his superb performance.

Durham driver Pete Gibson, along with co-driver Adam Bradford, from Newcastle, were also rewarded for making the journey across the border for the Dunfermline Car Club event with their Vauxhall Nova 1600.

Setting some good times during the eight-stage event, the pair had a good run throughout the 36 stage miles without any problems to bring their UTS Group-backed car home to finish 15th overall, also claiming first in class.

Unfortunately, the same fortune wasn’t shared by others.

Despite achieving a reasonable time on the opening stage on the single venue event, engine problems on the second stage saw the Vauxhall Nova of Durham driver Drew Gibson and co-driver Jane Nicol crawl over the finish line. Unable to repair their car, the pair were forced to retire from the rest of the day’s action.

Also suffering with engine problems was Great Broughton driver Ian Woodhouse in his Peugeot 205. Woodhouse and co-driver Jason Leaf, of Hutton Rudby were unable to complete the first stage, but determined not to have an action-free day, the engine problems were repaired, enabling them to compete in the afternoon stages.

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FOLLOWING on from their class win in Epynt in February, Ripon co-driver Henry Richardson and Rod Bennett, of Andover, were hoping for the same sort of luck on their trip to Ireland for the Larsen Circuit of Ireland National Rally.

Based in Banbridge, the 14- stage event also took in two special sages north of the border in the Down District with the National rally commencing on Saturday.

Contesting in the Asphalt Championship for the first time, Bennett and Richardson were on fine form in their Fiat Punto S1600 and they started the 140 miles of special stage in good style by producing a string of top ten stage times.

They steadily worked their way up the leader board throughout the weekend, with their hard efforts rewarded when they crossed the finish to claim second in class and a well deserved sixth overall.

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WIGTON MC ventured east of the Pennines to run the annual Good Friday Sprint at Teesside Autodrome, but with a new twist.

In a change from previous years this event was run on a one-lap format instead of the normal two, which made for a frantic turn around and a total of ten runs per car in five hours of racing.

Norton pairing Martin and Sally Peacock were in action in their Peugeot 106 Rallye which they shared throughout the day and with the predicted heavy rainfall staying away early on, both Martin and Sally were able to produce some good practice laps that stood them both in good stead for a good class finish.

With the potential of having eight laps on the all-tarmac track, fast times were put in by both, but with the heavy rain falling on the very last run, Sally thought it best to sit out of the first.

However at the conclusion, both Martin and Sally were rewarded for their efforts by claiming second and third in class respectively.