Johnson defeats main rival to keep title hopes alive

The County Durham ace, driving his former Petter Solberg Subaru Impreza World Rally Car, took advantage of a number of uncharacteristic slips by the defending champion to win by 62 seconds on round five of the series.

Despite sporadic and torrential rain, Johnson had opened up a 34-second advantage by the time the cars entered stage six, the second run through the 11-miler at Swinton. But Munro, on a charge with his co-driver and fellow Scot John Bennie, clawed 17 seconds back.

But the Inverness driver then dropped 45 seconds when his Impreza slithered off into a field to end any chance of catching the Englishman, who had Jersey's Stewart Merry on the notes as usual.

"The win has been a long time coming," said Johnson, who won the 2002 Scottish Championship and whose last win came two years ago in the RSAC Scottish Rally in Dumfries.

"Things worked well for me, but we had a big scare the first time through the Fogo stage when we careered off through a hedge. Somehow we managed to get the car back on the road, but we dropped about 25 seconds.

"Then Raymond had his own problems and we were able to keep it on the road, despite the miserable conditions, and finally close the gap in the title race.

"I know he's still favourite and really I need to win the three remaining events and hope he fails to finish, but at least the championship's still alive."

The next round of the County Saab Scottish Rally Championship is the Colin McRae Forest Stages Rally based in Perth on Saturday, July 24.

Earlier in the weekend, Johnson moved into second place in the Pirelli Kwik Fit MSA British Rally Championship after a brilliant drive around the lanes of the Borders.

Driving the Barrier Surveillance Impreza he was to take to victory on Sunday's SRC event, the former trials rider battled to seventh place in the damp and difficult conditions of the Jim Clark Memorial Rally during Friday night and Saturday.

Johnson survived a puncture on the opening leg and a huge moment on a hump bridge to lie 12th after Friday's seven stages, before climbing the leaderboard on Saturday despite the weather and a couple of minor problems.

The pair eventually claimed seventh place overall, but with the leading trio of Irishmen not being registered for the championship, Johnson took fourth place points to move to within 17 points of leader David Higgins, who emerged with maximum points yet again in the SGP Motorsport of Darlington Hyundai Accent WRC.

One place behind Johnson was Dealer Team Suzuki's driver Guy Wilks, who outclassed the Super 1600 field to secure his third successive maximum points in the series.

The 23-year-old from Heighington secured Suzuki's first ever class win on a tar surface by finishing a superb eighth overall after winning 17 of the 23 special stages in the Super 1600 class.

He finished nearly six minutes ahead of championship leader Jonnie Wigmore's Ford Puma.

The result pushed Wilks to within two points of Wigmore as the battle for this year's Super 1600 Championship really hots up.

After a recent hectic schedule, Wilks and co-driver Phil Pugh now have three weeks rest before heading to the Isle of Man for the next round of the Kwik-Fit Pirelli British Super 1600 Championship and the Manx International Rally over the weekend of July 29-31.

Other locals in action included Exelby's Chris Lewis, who took 28th overall and 15th in class in his Mitsubishi on the main BRC event, while Bishop Auckland driver Tristan Pye claimed sixth overall on the Reivers in his Subaru.

Durham's Andy Fenwick and Lee Tindall took a victory on the National event on Saturday as well as a ninth in the Rievers on Sunday in their Mitsubishi, with the MG Metro 6R4 of Consett driver Barry Renwick finishing tenth and 29th respectively on the same events.

Fellow Consett pairing of James Knox and Alec Renwick took their Ford Sierra to 33rd on Sunday's event, with another County Durham pairing in the shape of Gavin Spencer and Steve Waggett four places further back in their Vauxhall Nova.

It was Spencer's first rally back since a serious accident on Otterburn last autumn.

Masham butcher Richard Welford was out of luck once again in his Ford Escort Cosworth when he and co-driver Richard Ross broke a driveshaft on SS4 of Sunday's Rievers event.

* The only winner at round eight of the THINK! British Superbike Championship meeting held at Knockhill in Scotland was the weather as torrential rain did its best to wash out last weekend's programme.

With qualifying abandoned on Saturday, Sunday was marginally better as race officials battled against the elements to run the races. But they needn't have bothered as far as the region's challengers were concerned.

Guisborough Superbike rider Dennis Hobbs lost ground on his rivals despite posting fastest time out of all the privateers to start both of Sunday's races from tenth on the grid.

After a cloudburst on Sunday morning, Hobbs took to the grid in drying conditions for race one and proceeded to run with the leaders for the opening laps.

Ahead of the likes of series leader John Reynolds (Rizla Suzuki) and Honda's Michael Rutter, Hobbs was the leading yellow plate rider until an uncharacteristic mistake saw him slide off at the low speed Taylor's Hairpin before remounting to finish 14th overall and fifth in class.

Race two was run in similar conditions, but problems with wet tyres and a loose rear wheel on a drying track meant that grip was at a premium as Hobbs spun and slithered his way to 15th overall and fourth in class.

Hobbs has slipped to third in the standings, just one point behind second-placed Jon Kirkham but now 49 points behind series leader James Ellison with ten races left.

It was even worse for Hutton Rudby rider Russ Hodgson, whose season went from bad to worse when he recorded his third non-finish after crashing out of the Virgin Mobile Yamaha R6 Cup race after seven laps of the 1.3-mile Scottish circuit.

After recently recovering from a broken foot, Hodgson was hoping to turn the corner at Knockhill.

But the odds as well as the conditions conspired against the 23-year-old outdoor pursuits instructor from the start.

The weather conditions ruled out much of Saturday's action, including the only scheduled qualifying session for the class, so despite being fourth fastest during the dry free practice session, Hodgson was placed on row four of the gird courtesy of his lowly championship position.

He was fighting his way through the field when he crashed out on lap eight at the fast Clark Curve, again injuring his ankle in the process. The next outing for the series is at Mallory Park in two weeks.

Middlesbrough teenager Paul Veazey managed to slither round to claim 22nd in the British Supersport race aboard his JR Motosport Yamaha.

Faced with a wet but drying track, the 17-year-old went for the safe option of wet tyres. But the gamble backfired and he was left to bring the R6 home two laps adrift of the leader as many of his rivals crashed out.

l The 2004 season continues in style this weekend at Croft circuit when rounds nine and ten of the Derby Phoenix Motor Cycle Club road race championships take place.

The club has attracted a capacity entry for the two-day meeting, with a host of club regulars set to mix it with a smattering of track specialists.

All solo classes are represented, including the ever-popular 600cc Steel Frame series and Formula 750 class, while the sidecars will be out in force with both F1 and F2 teams vying for honours.

The headline race over the weekend will be the fifth round of the ACU/FSRA Super F2 Sidecar Championship which sees championship leaders Roy Hanks and Dave Wells go into the race with a one-point advantage over Nigel Connole and Dennis Lowther.

Practice starts tomorrow at 9.30 and noon on Sunday, with racing immediately after on both days.

Adult admission is £6 tomorrow and £12 on Sunday, with accompanied children under 15 admitted free on both days.

* Race fans have just one weekend left to purchase advance tickets for the Green Flag British Touring Car Championship which takes place at Croft over the weekend of July 24 and 25.

By buying tickets before Monday, a saving of £4 on both race day and weekend admission can be gained as well as discounted grandstand viewing.

For more details contact Croft circuit on 01325 721815 or at www.croftcircuit.co.uk