A DELIGHTED David Higgins emerged from the depths of Keilder Forest after a superb drive saw him win the opening round of the Kwik Fit Pirelli British Rally Championship last weekend.

The Welsh-based Manxman and co-driver Chris Wood totally dominated with eight fastest times on the ten stage event and his victory on the Pirelli International Rally was probably doubly satisfying as he matched elder brother Mark who won the North East event in 2002.

At the colourful finish in Gateshead's futuristic Baltic Square, Higgins - in the Steve Petch Hyundai Accent, hired for him by local businessman and fellow rally driver Barry Johnson - was over two minutes ahead of York driver Alistair Ginley in his Subaru WRC, who in turn was just over a minute ahead of Paul Bird from Penrith whose Ford Focus WRC was suffering from gearbox problems late on.

Midlander Steve Perez (Ford Focus WRC) battled it out throughout the two-day event with Shildon's Barry Johnson (Subaru WRC) and at the finish, just 18 seconds separated them after over one and a half hours of competitive action. Cumbrian Matthew Wilson, the 17 year old son of former world championship driver Malcolm Wilson, had a dream International debut, bringing his Ford Focus WRC home a splendid sixth overall.

Reigning British champion from Driffield, Jonny Milner retired his Team Dynamics Subaru at the final Service Halt at Hexham with a broken clutch, and after a roll earlier in the day, it was an event that the former Rallycrosser will want to forget in a hurry!

Local drivers suffered a range of fortunes on the event which kicked off on Friday evening and featured some unusual stages in darkness in the giant Keilder complex. First to hit drama was Castleton driver Ryan Champion who comprehensively rolled his Mitsubishi Lancer on the opening stage after misjudging a corner.

The 28-year-old Yorkshireman and his Irish co-driver Glenn Patterson eventually extracted the car from the ditch with a loss of around eight minutes and the pair continued although brake problems scuppered their hopes during the course of the weekend. They eventually ended up in a gallant 21st overall and 9th in the production category.

Unwittingly, as Champion fought to extract his own car, he effectively ended the hopes of another local driver expected to go well, Heighington's Guy Wilks. The 23-year-old works Suzuki Ignis driver was hoping for Super 1600 honours but as he came over a brow, he was temporarily blinded by Champion's headlights - as his car was facing the wrong way - and clouted a bank which led to his and Welsh co-driver Phil Pugh's demise due to damage a stage later.

Jonny Brown from Great Broughton and Northallerton co-driver Ian Windress were another pair to succumb to 'Killer Kielder' when they also crashed out on SS2 in their Ford Puma.

It was better news for Hamsterley driver Stephen Petch and his co-driver Michael Wilkinson from Tow Law who brought their SGP Motorsport Peugeot 206 home in a very respectable 35th overall. As a result, the pair took second place in the F1600cc category going into the next round in Wales next month.

In the supporting National event, West Rounton driver Chris Blake and co-driver Tony Walker from Barnard Castle overcame a misfire and a blown turbo to take a fine fifth place overall in their NTB Ford Escort Cosworth whilst Consett's Stephen Robson guided Scotsman Barry Groundwater to eventual victory. James Knox from Birtley and another Consett co-driver Alec Renwick dropped 25 minutes after going off on the opening stage in their Ford Sierra Cosworth but battled on to finish 11th overall.

* Hobbs Racing rider Dennis Hobbs continued his early season form with another pair of rostrum placings at a sun-drenched Snetterton last weekend.

Aboard his Scott Leathers-sponsored Suzuki, the 21-year-old from Guisborough recorded second place in the opening THINK! British Superbike Cup Championship around the Norfolk speed-bowl with a similar result in the second leg and in doing so consolidated second position in the series.

Hobbs suffered a heart-stopping moment in Saturday's qualifying when his front mudguard broke at well over 150mph and locked the front wheel. Dennis brought the machine under control without crashing but the resulting time loss meant the team were further down the grid than they wanted to be.

Despite the handicap, Hobbs battled through both races as he diced with some factory riders and in the end scored two solid results behind double winner James Ellison. As a result, he lays just one point adrift of his rival going into this Bank Holiday Monday's races at Oulton Park:

Meanwhile, pre-season favourite for Virgin Mobile Yamaha R6 Cup honours, Russ Hodgson was brought crashing back down to earth for the second time in three meetings when a first turn incident forced him out of round three at Snetterton.

Following on from being taken out by an errant rider at Silverstone in round one and a sixth place finish last time out at Brands Hatch, the 23-year-old outdoor pursuits instructor was hoping to redress the balance with a win on his Alan Haywood supported machine, and things look good when he qualified in second place on the grid.

But as the Hutton Rudby rider headed into the 100mph Sears Corner on the opening lap; he lost the front end of his bike and ended up sliding out of the race, meaning no points yet again. However, with series leader Kiel Bryce set to depart the championship with the offer of a British Superbike Championship ride and another front runner in the shape of Adam Jenkinson crashing out also, all is not lost in Rusty's bid to land the crown and with it, the contract to ride in the Virgin Mobile British Superbike Championship Team for 2005.

* British Autotest championship contender Paul Swift came through his toughest battle of the season last weekend to beat 45 national competitors and score his third successive overall win in round three of the British Autotest Championships held at Bolton.

Driving his Smith & Allan-supported Mini Special, the 24 -year-old from Darlington was lying six seconds behind the current British champion Dave Mosey after the first three tests, but was able to claw back 6.3 seconds before the halfway point.

Suffering a shunt on test eight, Swift again dropped back to second after the third round leaving only 2.6 seconcds between the pair going into the final three tests, but setting fastest time on each of the remaining tests, Swift turned the tables and took the win by only 2.6 seconds.

"There was a lot of pressure on me on the final tests and there's a very fine line between pushing hard and overdriving but thankfully things went my way and I'm delighted to have won." said Swift

The Carpet-time.co.uk and Smart IFA-backed driver now leads the championship by nine points with five events remaining before the mid-season split.

* The long trip south to round four of the BRTDA Rally Championship proved fruitless for Leeming businessman Kevin Procter and his Northallerton co-driver Mike Gilby when they rolled out of the Somerset Stages on SS4.

Lying in the top seven after the opening three tarmac stages, the Motoscope Subaru driver crashed out on the first forest stage meaning no points for the first time this season.

* Yarm racing driver Bill Addison bounced back to form with a superb rostrum placing when round two of the Caterham Roadsports B Championship visited the Brands Hatch GP circuit last weekend.

After being placed in eighth in the opening qualifying session, Addison moved up to sixth in the second session and eventually overcame tricky conditions to record third place in the race to move up to seventh in the series going into Monday's race at Castle Combe