FRESH from a superb victory on the Speyside Stages based in Scotland a couple of weeks ago, Shildon rally driver Barry Johnson ventured north once again last weekend and came away with another win, this time on the Park Systems Furniture Stages Rally which formed the penultimate round of the Kumho National Rally Championship.

The former Scottish champion, who finished runner-up in the series this year, took victory by nearly a minute on the seven-stage event based in Castle Douglas as he and co-driver Stewart Merry showed the established hands the way home in their Barrier Surveillance Subaru Impreza WRC.

Johnson lay second after the opening stage, while Scorton's Steve Petch and Northallerton co-driver John Richardson held 12th place in their SGP Motorsport Hyundai Accent WRC, with Ingleton driver Tony Thompson and co-driver Ian Windress from Northallerton managing 26th in their Tidybike Mitsubishi Lancer.

Johnson hit the front with a stunning time on SS2, establishing a lead he increased to 20 seconds after the third stage as Petch dropped down to 15th. Thompson, meanwhile, was battling for Mitsubishi Lancer Evo Challenge points and had made his way up to 17th overall and fifth in class as they started the fourth stage.

The Subaru pairing increased their lead on SS5, but a problem on SS6 saw them drop more than half a minute and lose the lead to champion elect Steve Perez.

Petch had made his way up inside the top ten by the end of SS5, with Thompson moving up to 12th, but the Lancer duo had to retire on the following stage.

Try as he might, Johnson couldn't get on terms with Perez on the penultimate stage in Borgon 2 and dropped a further second, but the Ford Focus WRC driver punctured on the final test and the County Durham driver took a deserved win by nearly a minute.

Petch, driving in preparation for an assault on this weekend's Rally GB, improved to eighth by the finish ramp as he claimed fourth in class to give himself a timely boost, having sat out much of the 2004 season.

Meanwhile, Hamsterley's Stephen Petch and co-driver Michael Wilkinson from Tow Law competed on the event as part of the Peugeot 206 Super Cup.

The youngsters started the rally hoping to improve on their current sixth place in the 206 standings and stage one went well, although they were very cautious in the slippery conditions.

But disaster struck eight miles into the 15-mile stage two when the throttle cable snapped. Inventively, they managed to repair it by using Wilkinson's boot laces as a hand throttle. But it wouldn't reach Petch and Wilkinson was in charge of the throttle for the rest of the stage.

In service, the throttle was fixed along with a damaged suspension arm and they left to do a loop of three stages ahead. The first two went well with the pair finishing fifth and third-fastest of the 206 competitors, but a front suspension strut smashed through the bonnet after a heavy landing on stage five, throwing the Simon Bailes-sponsored SGP Motorsport-prepared 206 into a ditch, where it was stuck for more than five minutes.

When back in service they replaced the complete right-hand side front suspension and the front bumper, which was lost in the ditch.

The final two stages went well, and their time on the final stage was fourth fastest of the 206 competitors. They finished tenth in the 206 Super Cup and 26th overall despite losing more than 12 minutes with the two major problems they had.

Petch said: "I love the stages on this rally, it's just a shame we lost all that time with the problems we had. It was quite scary having Michael in charge of the throttle for that one stage and I thought we would never get out of that ditch, so in the end I was just happy to finish.

"Although the end result wasn't what we would have wanted, on the three good stages we had we set some very competitive times."

The pair will next contest the Trackrod International Rally in preparation for the final round of the 206 Super Cup and Kumho National Rally Championship, on next month's Bulldog Rally.

* Seventeen-year-old Paul Veazey left Oulton Park disappointed following his 21st place finish in the penultimate round of the British Supersport Championship last weekend.

Riding the JR Motosport 600cc Yamaha, the Middlesbrough teenager got a great start from row six of the grid. But one of the leading riders had a machine problem as they exited the first corner and Veazey had to slow to avoid a collision.

Despite his best efforts, he couldn't quite climb into the top 20, much to his frustration.

"Oulton Park is a circuit I've always struggled at and it didn't help when I had to shut off to avoid crashing on the opening lap. I tried to get my head down after that and in the end I just wanted to bring the bike home as there was no point in crashing.

"I hope we can get a good result at Donington as I really like that track and all I need is a little bit of luck," said Veazey, who will be hoping for his first points of the season at the Donington Park finale this weekend.

With Guisborough racer Dennis Hobbs out injured for the remainder of the season and Hutton Rudby's Russ Hodgson having lost his ride in the Yamaha R6 Cup series, the only other local rider in the British Championships was Darlington racer Richie Harrison, who contested the National Superstock Cup event.

Riding the HBR Yamaha R1, Harrison qualified on row five of the grid before enjoying a race-long dice with former top national racer Carl Marsden.

Harrison eventually got the better of his rival and came home in 17th place, just two places short of a well deserved point.

Like Veazey, Harrison will also be hoping to score that elusive top 15 placing this weekend in the double header which forms the final round of the 2004 series.

l The second annual Steve Hislop Memorial Run takes place in the Borders region on Sunday when friends and fans of the former bike racer can gather to pay their tributes to Hislop, who was killed in a helicopter accident last year.

The schedule for the run is as follows and no bookings are required. - 9.30: Depart Alan Duffus Motorcycles, Kirkcaldy; 10.15: Depart Forth Road Bridge Toll. 11am: Depart Alan Duffus Motorcycles, Edinburgh. Follow A68 via A698 to Denholm Village for noon arrival.

Food and refreshments will be served on the village green and various fundraising activities are planned for the Steve Hislop Memorial Fund.

2pm: Depart Denholm to visit Steve Hislop Commemorative Room at Drumlandrig's Tower, Hawick (admission £2.50); 4.30: Depart Hawick to visit Steve Hislop Cairn at the crash site on the A7 Carlisle Road south of Hawick.

For more details contact Alan Duffus on 01592 264135