Wilks closes on title with Ulster Rally maximum

Wilks, from Heighington, and his Welsh co-driver Phil Pugh finished second in class and a superb eighth overall.

They won seven of the 19 stages on the Armagh-based event and finished second in the other 12 to finish just 1.4 seconds behind Gwyndaf Evans and Huw Lewis in their Ford Puma.

Wilks secured the maximum 20 points for winning the Super 1600 class because Evans is not registered for the British Championship.

His main Super 1600 rival Jonnie Wigmore crashed out on stage 14, meaning Wilks only has to finish the Tempest Rally, based near Reading in early November, to win the championship.

The 23-year-old Ignis driver said: "Although we just missed out on winning the Super 1600 class, it was important we secured the maximum 20 points. The Super 1600 Championship is what we have aimed for all season, so there was no point in racing against Gwyndaf."

The duo will now prepare for Rally GB and the next round of the Junior World Rally Championship, in which they lie third, which takes place next weekend in Wales.

The next British Championship event is the Trackrod Rally in the Yorkshire forests over the weekend of October 2 and 3.

Meanwhile, the British round of the World Rally Championship next weekend, the Rally GB, will have some local interest despite the event again taking place solely in South Wales.

Former national champions Steve Petch, from Scorton, and Northallerton co-driver John Richardson will be hoping for a good result in their SGP Motorsport Hyundai Accent WRC as they tackle the four-day marathon.

Darlington-based CS Rallysport have been given the task of preparing and running the Peugeot 206 of Matt Jessup and Bill Robertson on the event.

Headed by proprietor Ian Cartwright and despite the relatively short notice, the team collected the car from Maidstone before undertaking some rapid preparation work.

Cartwright said: "This is the biggest opportunity for us so far, and we are under instructions that we need to get the car to the finish as a matter of priority. If we do that, whatever result we end up with will delight us all as it's been a major task to undertake for our small company".

The rally will start in Cardiff next Thursday evening and, after 19 special stages, will return to the city at 3.30pm on the Sunday.

* The County Durham pairing of Stephen Petch, from Hamsterley, and Tow Law co-driver Michael Wilkinson travelled to Wales last weekend to compete on the infamous Epynt ranges in the Mewla National Rally as part of their Peugeot 206 Super Cup campaign.

The pair battled through difficult weather conditions in the morning, but losing power steering and an overshoot left them lying seventh.

The afternoon stages were a different story when, despite catching a fellow 206 competitor on stage ten and having to follow him for more than two miles, they managed to take time out of the two cars in front of them, leaving them sixth going into the three remaining stages.

The pair pushed really hard on the last three, taking more than 22 seconds out of the fifth-placed driver, but losing out by 1.2 seconds.

Petch said: "It's a good result really, but I'm disappointed that we didn't get fifth as losing out by only a second is really hard to take. With only one overshoot, I kept my nose clean pretty much all day.

"We just lost so much time on stage ten catching another car. We were over 30 seconds faster through that stage on our second run, just proving what time we could have done."

The result puts them into fifth place in the championship, with only two rounds left. The pair's next outing will be on this weekend's Park Systems Rally, which forms the next round of the 206 Super Cup.

l Guisborough rider Dennis Hobbs is facing a long spell on the sidelines after doctors discovered the neck injury he sustained in a testing accident at Croft circuit last month was much more serious than first thought.

The 22-year-old Hobbs Racing British Superbike Cup rider underwent various nerve tests and a further MRI scan at a specialist facility in East Anglia last week.

It was diagnosed that he had dislocated neck vertebrae in the crash and was in imminent danger of permanent damage if not treated immediately.

Hobbs was admitted to St James' Hospital in Leeds before being transferred to Leeds General Infirmary on Wednesday.

His father, John Hobbs, explained: "Upon examining the various x-rays and documentation, the doctors have told us that Dennis has a dislocated neck and was just two millimetres off being paralysed.

"Like us, they are extremely concerned as to why this wasn't diagnosed earlier. Had it been, Dennis would have been out of action for around three months, but it could now take between six and 12 months to fix.

"Had we known the extent of the injury, he shouldn't have been racing at Croft or Cadwell as one slight knock could have proved disastrous."

Hobbs, who finished on the rostrum twice at Croft before ruling himself out due to a lack of strength at Cadwell, is likely to have some exterior metalwork and frames inserted around his head and neck to stabilise the injury after surgery.

* The proposed Hamsterley Stages Rally scheduled for Sunday has been cancelled due to a lack of entries.

At the closing date, organisers Ripon Motor Sports Club had only received 35 entries, meaning the event wasn't financially viable.

It has not been decided whether to run the event at a later date or to scrub it from the current calendar completely.

* Barnard Castle duo Mark Thompson and Giles Dykes were out competing for the second weekend running in the Williamson Motors-backed Peugeot 206 when they contested round six of the Kent Cams single venue championship in the Wolds Rally, based at RAF Swinderby.

They were held up in the dust on stage one, leaving them 22nd overall and fifth in class. Stage two was cancelled to try to help clear the dust, but a clean run through stage three saw the pair move up to 18th overall and fourth in class. The pair continued to climb the leaderboard on stages four, five and six to lie 11th overall and second in class going into the final two tests.

Another good run saw them end up ninth overall and second in class, also finishing first front-wheel drive car. The result puts Thompson into the lead in the single venue championship and Dykes up to third.

Also competing were Terry and Luke Searle, from Richmond, who finished 19th overall and third in class despite a puncture.

Richard Welford, from Crakehall, and co-driver Richard Ross had been going fairly well inside the top 15 when they suffered a puncture on stage six and lost some time.

* This weekend's race action at Croft circuit is organised by the British Automobile Racing Club Ltd, which caters for both modern cars and those of yesteryear.

No less than 15 races will be contested around the North's premier race track over the two-day meeting, which comprises rounds of a number of national as well as local championships.

The York Fitness Post Historic Touring Car Championship will see drivers battling it out in six classes over two, ten-lap races in a throwback to the Seventies.

The likes of series leader Pete Hallford's Ford Boss Mustang will be battling it out with the Chevrolet Camaro of Tim Fish and another heavyweight in the shape of David Howard's Jaguar XJ12.

Other class leaders include Nick Dann (Ford Capri), Greg Carpenter (Lotus Cortina) and Steven Young (Mini 1275 GT). With other marques including Vauxhall Firenzas, Hillman Avengers, Ford Escorts and an NSU, variety is most certainly the key.

The BARC Formula Renault Championship enjoys centre stage on Sunday with two races for the single-seaters as Nicky Wilson aims to extend his advantage over Nino Piccoli, while the Kumho BMW Championship will see the battle for supremacy between Martyn Bell and Rick Kelly played out over a 45-minute race.

The Westfield marque is well represented with rounds 11 and 12 of the BARC Westfield Sportscar Championship over the two days.

The Classic Group One and Classic Thunder Touring Cars see a mix of modern and older saloon cars battle for supremacy.

Throw in three races for the entertaining Legends cars over the weekend, a round of the K&N Filters Sports Saloon Championship and the usual full grids of the DDMC Northern Saloon and Sports Car Championship and it will be a spectacle not to be missed.

Qualifying starts tomorrow at 9.30, with the first of five races from 3.10 onwards, while the action commences on Sunday at 12.05 with a ten-race programme.

Adult admission is £6 tomorrow and £12 on Sunday. Children aged 15 and under accompanied by an adult are admitted free.