ROUND two of the Kumho Tyres National Rally Championship headed to North Wales last weekend, with local crews aiming for success at the Llangollen-based Astra Stages Rally.

Having retired on the opening round in Bournemouth back in February, Scorton's Steve Petch and co-driver John Richardson from Northallerton were hoping for better luck on the Snowdonia stages in their SGP Motorsport Hyundai Accent WRC.

But they didn't get off to the best of starts when they found the soft tyres they had chosen were unsuitable for the rock hard, dry stages, leaving them seventh after SS1.

The pair responded on the next couple of stages, but the dust and surfaces contrived to keep the former champions down in sixth at first service before two stages in Penmachno saw them drop to eighth at the halfway point.

Petch decided to up the ante on the final loop and started to climb the leaderboard with third fastest time on SS8. A timing mix-up at the start of the following stage then caused confusion among the leaders as they held back to try to eradicate the dust problem, which was making visibility almost impossible.

Penalties were subsequently applied to various crews, but not Petch, who stormed through the final stage third fastest to wrest fourth place overall and a class win.

It was also a good day for Ingleton driver Tony Thompson, who ended up 15th overall and sixth in class in the Tidybike Mitsubishi Lancer he was sharing with Northallerton's Ian Windress.

The pair drove a sensible rally in the difficult conditions to reach the finish without too many dramas and take fourth place in the Mitsubishi Evolution Challenge which runs alongside the series.

Ripon's Charlie Payne and co-driver Craig Thorley from York were lying inside the top ten when they rolled out of contention in their Subaru on the final stage of the rally for the second time in three rallies.

Stephen Petch junior and Tow Law co-driver Mike Wilkinson retired within sight of the finish when comfortably leading their class in their SGP Ford Ka.

The next round of the series visits the Isle of Man for the Roush Manx Rally on May 9 and 10.

Overall top ten. - 1 A Burton/J Roberts (Peugeot Cosworth) 1:04.13; 2 B Ceen/A Douglas (Subaru 555) +0.51; 3 R Munro/N Ewing (Subaru WRC) +0.54; 4 S Petch/J Richardson (Hyundai WRC) +1.12; 5 D Mann/A Cook (Subaru 555) +1.23; 6 M Harrison/S Merry (Metro 6R4) +1.23; 7 M Higgins/B Thomas (Renault Clio Kit) +1.45; 8 B Crealey/S Harris (Mitsubishi Lancer) +2.23; 9 B Bell/D Redpath (Ford Focus WRC) +2.35; 10 G Smith/P Clark (Ford Escort) +2.40.

* The opening round of the 2003 greengauges.com British Sprint Championship gets under way at Croft circuit this weekend, with drivers from all over the country converging on North Yorkshire for the Darlington and District Motor Club promotion, supported by Bridgestone Tyres.

The event on Easter Monday will see classes for production, modified, sports and racing cars, all of varying engine capacities, do battle over a 1.9-mile route around the main circuit. With the meeting comprising four rounds of regional championships, the action is sure to be intense.

Heading the local contingent will be Moulton's Simon Cole, who drives a 4.5-litre TVR350i in the same class as Durham driver Matthew Oakley in a 5000cc TVR Griffith.

Steve Parker from Darlington competes in an Austin Mini Seven, with Richmond's Dave and Rhys Palmer sharing their Rover 114.

David Kelly (Scorton) competes in his VW Golf Gti, while Darlington driver Mark Leybourne will be at the wheel of his Westfield in class 2a. One of the smallest engined cars in the event will be driven by Stockton's Michael Walton, who will be in action in his 748cc OMS.

The action gets under way at 9.30, with admission costing £6 each.