SCOTSMAN John Bogie will be out to land that elusive victory when he heads the capacity field on the annual Specsavers Christmas Stages Rally at Croft Circuit tomorrow.

The MG Metro 6R4 driver from Dumfries has finished runner-up on the past two occasions and will be hoping to go one better.

But, as ever, it will be hard going as Northallerton Auto Club have assembled yet another class entry for the festive event.

The car that Bogie was hoping to use will not be ready so he's having to resort to his less powerful spare 6R4.

Chasing Bogie and co-driver Davie Paterson will be a pair of local crews in the shape of Tony Bardy and Reg Smith plus Kevin Procter and Mike Gilby.

Bardy, from Scotch Corner, won the Jack Frost Rally at Croft earlier in the year and will be gunning for victory in his Nissan Sunny GTI-R, while Procter from Leeming is facing a race against time to ready his Subaru Impreza after rolling his Ford Puma.

Throw in the likes of Gateshead's Andy Fenwick (Mitsubishi), Yorkshiremen Phil Gallagher (MG Metro 6R4) and Andy Bird (Mitsubishi) along with Ray Brammer (Subaru) and John Rintoul (Mitsubishi) and it sure is going to be a battle.

And it's not just the 28 four- wheel drive cars that make up the class five section of the 90 car rally that will feature - the entry list is a strong one.

Top driver Ryan Champion from Castleton will be behind the wheel of an ex-works Ford Puma S1600 and is hot favourite to win class two.

The two litre class three section will be a battle between Stockton's Keith Davison in his radical Darrian T90 and Northallerton garage proprietor Charlie Taylor in his Ford Escort Mark 2 among others.

Utilising all of the tarmac roads around the popular North East venue, the event, which comprises qualifying rounds of the Walkers Garage Tecno 2 ANECCC Stage Rally Championship and North of England Tarmac Rally Championship starts at 9.15am.

Organisers are aiming for eight stages with at least one running in darkness.

Admission is £7, with accompanied children under 15 admitted free.

* Jarno Trulli is confident Toyota are capable of turning around their fortunes in time for next season.

Toyota, one of Formula One's richest teams, have endured a torrid baptism into Formula One after joining in 2002, with just 26 points coming their way in three seasons.

But a spending spree last season secured Toyota's most high-profile driver line-up yet as Trulli and Ralf Schumacher agreed long-term deals to leave Renault and Williams respectively.

Trulli got an early taste of Toyota's difficulties when he was drafted in to race in the final two grands prix of last season after his sacking from Renault.

Published: 27/12/2004