LOCAL hero Tony Bardy was left ruing his bad luck as he was once again denied victory on the Specsavers Christmas Stages Rally held at a bitterly cold Croft circuit on Tuesday.

The former British Rallycross champion from Scotch Corner and his Richmond co-driver Reg Smith had to settle for second place in their Nissan Sunny GTI-R after a day-long battle with the MG Metro 6R4 of eventual winners Tom Morris and Neil Chambers and the Ford Escort Cosworth of Tynesiders George Grieve and Stephen Robson.

In front of another bumper crowd, Grieve was fastest on the opening stage despite the icy conditions ahead of Morris, with Bardy taking things cautiously in third.

Consett driver Barry Renwick (Subaru) held fourth ahead of the Hyundai Accent of Lancastrian Steve Simpson and John Rintoul in a Mitsubishi.

Stage two saw a repeat of the opening four and a half-miler and just two seconds separated Grieve, Morris and Simpson as Bardy hit trouble. An impact with the stage furniture had broken the rear suspension and he had to complete the stage with his rear wheel at an impossible angle, losing half a minute and dropping to eighth overall.

Rintoul had moved up to fifth, ahead of Exelby's Chris Lewis and co-driver Jon Dunning in their MSR-prepared Mitsubishi Lancer.

Castleton driver Ryan Champion and co-driver Ian Windress from Northallerton were heading the two-wheel drive contingent in their Team Birkbeck Ford Puma S1600, chased hard by the Darrian of Stockton's Keith Davison in tenth.

Richard Pocklington from Bedale, taking over the injured Kevin Procter's drive in the Motoscope Subaru, was acquitting himself well and lay 12th overall after two stages.

Bardy clawed back some time from Grieve over the next couple of stages, but couldn't match Morris' pace and at the lunchtime interval the Scot held a four-second advantage over Grieve, with Bardy 42 seconds back in third.

Davison had moved up to fifth overall with Champion dropping to eighth courtesy of a hairy grass-tracking excursion, with Northallerton's Charlie Taylor breathing down his neck just two seconds adrift in the Ford Escort.

However, controversy had surrounded the start of SS4 when, after booking into a time control, Morris had to return to his service barge to retrieve a spare wheel and thus contravened the regulations.

But the stewards decided against penalising the Metro driver and, despite protests from other competitors, the Scotsman was allowed to continue without penalty.

With the circuit being used in the opposite direction for the afternoon loop, Morris increased his lead by beating Bardy on SS5 and did so again on SS6 by a single second as the rain clouds started to gather overhead.

Thankfully, the rain, or indeed snow, never came and, as the crews headed out into the final two stages in near darkness, Morris held sway by 42 seconds over Grieve with Bardy less than half a minute adrift in third.

SS7 saw Bardy go fastest ahead of Morris as Grieve suffered problems, meaning that just nine seconds separated the Escort from the Nissan with the Metro still comfortably ahead.

Bardy stormed through the final stage fastest and, while he couldn't do anything about the leader, he wrested runner-up spot away from Grieve with a masterful display in the dark.

At the finish, Morris' advantage stood at 37 seconds ahead of Bardy, who won the Jack Frost Stages Rally at Croft earlier in the year.

Grieve held on to third and came home nearly a minute ahead of West Yorkshire visitor Alex Taylor (Subaru), while Davison claimed a superb fifth, a class win and the honour of being the first two-wheel drive car home.

Renwick brought the Subaru home in sixth ahead of Gateshead's Andy Fenwick and Hexham co-driver David Soulsby with Lewis, class winner Champion and York's Andy Bird completing the top ten.

Saltburn brothers Ian and Neil Colman claimed 11th at the finish in their Nissan Sunny with Barnard Castle driver Al Hutchinson (Renault Clio) finishing an impressive 12th overall and second in class, one place ahead of Birkby's Carl Tuer (Vauxhall Astra), who secured third in class.

Brothers Mark and Andrew Constantine from Richmond dominated class one in their 1400cc Vauxhall Corsa and took an easy class win as Mark Thompson from Barnard Castle brought his Peugeot home 18th overall and fourth in class.

Birtley driver Jimmy Knox fared well in his Ford Sierra Cosworth to record 22nd overall, just one place and one second ahead of Charlie Taylor.

Hartburn's Steve Alderdice and Gateshead co-driver Ken Bills brought their Ford Sierra Cosworth home 27th overall, while Hamsterley driver Stephen Petch and co-driver Mike Wilkinson from Tow Law emerged from the darkness in 29th overall and fourth in class in their Simon Bailes-backed SGP Motorsport Peugeot 206.

Event sponsor David Stockton from Middlesbrough overcame recent gearbox problems to claim 34th overall in his Subaru, one place ahead of the County Durham pairing of Robert and Shaun Skeoch in a similar car, while the honour of top woman driver went to Durham's Judy Wilson Petch in the Subaru she was sharing with Middleton Tyas co-driver Peter Croft as they finished 36th overall.

Other local crews to feature included Richmond's Terry and Luke Searle in their Rover, who finished 42nd overall, with Stockton driver Terry Clarke ending up 46th in his Ford Escort.

Hartlepool florists Ian and Andrew Legge claimed 49th overall and third in class in their original mark one Ford Escort, while Northallerton shopkeeper Darren Grimston and debutante co-driver Ross McQuillen from Scruton finished 61st in the CS Rallysport Ford Escort.

Whitby MG Maestro driver Martin Cockerill and co-driver Steve Kent ended up 67th with Teessiders Jim Kirwin and Martyn Calkin one place ahead in their Toyota Corolla.

The Catterick pairing of Craig and Lindsay Miller finished 63rd in their Skoda Favorit, while Sutton under Whitestonecliffe driver Amanda Cornforth brought the Ford Ka she was sharing with Ripon's James Bullock home 73rd out of the 90 cars which started the Northallerton AC event.

One of the bravest performances of the day came from Leeming businessman Kevin Procter who, after relinquishing the seat of the Motoscope Subaru to business partner Richard Pocklington, was dragged from his sick bed to co-drive for customer Paul McMullan.

Despite suffering from a back injury and never having sat in the passenger seat before, Procter braved the conditions and guided his driver home in 38th overall and sixth in class in their Proton Satria.

Sadly a number of locals didn't see the finish with Richard Pocklington and Northallerton co-driver Mike Gilby suffering from low oil pressure on SS4, while Darlington's Ian Cartwright retired with alternator failure on his RRS Subaru on the same stage.

Thirsk's Andy Chandler and co-driver Matty Fox retired their Ford Escort on SS2, also due to overheating.

Top ten: 1 Tom Morris/Neil Chambers, MG Metro 6R4, 40min 37sec; 2 Tony Bardy/Reg Smith, Nissan Sunny GTI-R, 41.14; 3 George Grieve/Stephen Robson, Ford Escort Cosworth, 41.18; 4 Alex Taylor/Michelle Taylor, Subaru Impreza, 42.16; 5 Keith Davison/Henry Richardson, Darrian T90, 42.26; 6 Barry Renwick/Ian Bainbridge, Subaru Impreza, 42.29; 7 Andy Fenwick/David Soulsby, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6, 42.29; 8 Chris Lewis/Jon Dunning, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 7, 42.33; 9 Ryan Champion/Ian Windress, Ford Puma S1600, 42.36; 10 Andy Bird/Plug Pulleyn, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6, 42.51