Richmond brothers Mark and Andrew Constantine maintained their assault on the BTRDA rally championship with a superb result against all odds at the Woodpecker Rally in Wales last weekend.

Their second place finish was a great achievement as, just six days before, they totally wrecked their car with a 100mph roll during the Specsavers Stages Rally.

After choosing to compete in their local event at the last moment, they rolled their WA Browne Maxspeed Nova, hitting two trees before finally stopping 200m further up the road.

Both emerged dazed but unhurt and their first concern just minutes after the incident was that they were scheduled to contest the Woodpecker Stages.

The pair were leading the BTRDA raceandrally.com 1400cc championship by a slim margin and not competing on the event would have meant their challenge would be more or less over, so they decided to do what they could to rebuild their car in the time available.

A quick inspection revealed no serious damage to the engine and gearbox, but the shell was severely twisted, with only the inner wings intact.

The brothers enlisted the help of Ian Cartwright of CS Automotive in Darlington and the Coates family, who run Victoria Garage Motorsport in Richmond, and by the Monday evening the car had been stripped back to a bare shell.

On Tuesday morning, they bought a crashed Nova from a scrap yard in Darlington and took it back to the workshop at Richmond for some severe restoration. The team worked solidly for 18 hours a day for the next three days to rebuild the entire car.

The car was completed at 1.30pm on the Friday, but the pair were due at pre-event scrutineering in Ludlow later that afternoon. With no time to check or test the car, it was started and immediately loaded onto the trailer for the five-hour journey south.

To the amazement of their championship rivals who had heard of their plight, they arrived in Shropshire and the car went through scrutineering without a problem.

On the day of the rally, the brothers discovered that the differential was not working properly which, given the gradients in Wales, gave them very little chance of winning the 1400cc class. But that didn't deter them after the efforts spent in getting to the start ramp.

Having led away the 40 1400cc competitors, the Constantines took it easy for the first four stages. But they were still second to their main rival, Rupert Hopcroft, just six seconds down.

With confidence growing by the stage, the pair upped the pace on the 15-mile Radnor stage, but at service Hopcroft had increased his lead by another two seconds.

Despite their best efforts on the final three tests, the lack of differential grip on the uphill sections meant they ended the day in second place by a margin of 16 seconds. But it was enough to maintain their four-point lead in the class going into the penultimate round next month.

Also in action were Great Broughton student Jonny Brown and his Harmby co-driver James Lester, who took third in class, just over half a minute down on Constantine.

The youngsters set fastest time in class on the opening stage and held the lead for the next two until an off dropped them down to fourth. They bounced back to claim third and are now 14 points behind in second place in class.

l The New Pig Scottish Rally Championship is set to go down to the wire in a winner-takes-all showdown later this month after the penultimate round was contested last weekend.

The title will be fought out between Shildon's Barry Johnson and Gary Adam from Tillicoultry in the final round based in Newton Stewart.

Johnson, who started last weekend's Speyside Stages defending a 15-point lead, finished fourth in his Subaru, one place ahead of Adam's Mitsubishi.

The former trials rider now heads to the South West of Scotland for the Park Systems Furniture Stages with his advantage extended to 16 points.

"We knew exactly what we had to do and that was to finish ahead of Gary," said Johnson, co-driven by Glasgow's John Bennie. "It really didn't matter where we finished overall in the rally, as long as Gary was behind us.

The only serious moment Johnson experienced was when he went off the track on stage four and ploughed through a ditch for about 50 yards. Luckily, it didn't damage the car and he was able to continue without losing too much time.

l Darlington superbike racer Mark Burr's run of good results ended in the crash barriers when he fell off his Hawk Kawasaki early in the opening race at last weekend's MCN British Superbike Championship round at Oulton Park.

After a run of nine top 15 places in his last ten races in Britain's premier race series, the 22-year-old crashed his Toshiba ZXR 750 at over 100mph, knocking himself out momentarily and suffering concussion which ruled him out for the rest of the day.

But there was better news for the region's other riders as they recorded a string of finishes with varying success. Best result in the support classes went the way of Yarm's Russ Hodgson, who managed seventh on his Cameron's Honda in the 125cc race.

The 21-year-old was lying in sixth for much of the race until a kinked fuel pipe dropped him back, while Middlesbrough rider Paul Veazey overcame a traumatic weekend to bring his GV Decorators Banks Honda home in 16th and just outside the points.

Dennis Hobbs from Guisborough was hoping to continue his recent good form, but machine problems during practice contrived to rob him of track time and the 20-year-old did well to score a 12th place finish aboard his 1000cc Suzuki.

Leyburn's James Brackenbury ended up 18th in the Junior Superstock race aboard his CJ Racing Yamaha.

l The popular British Rallycross Grand Prix has been revived for the first time in eight years and Croft circuit near Darlington has been chosen to host the event over the weekend of October 26 and 27.

The event, last run at Brands Hatch in 1994, will see top drivers and teams from across Europe battling for both two-wheel drive and four-wheel drive honours around the part gravel, part tarmac track.

Leading the entry list is former British, European and Grand Prix champion, Britain's Will Gollop, who makes his return to the sport driving his brand new Ford Focus

In addition to the Grand Prix, the meeting will incorporate the finals of the British Rallycross Drivers Association Championship on the Saturday, with an Inter Nations Cup to run alongside the Grand Prix programme on the Sunday.

The meeting will be run by both the British Automobile Racing Club and Darlington and District Motor Club.

DDMC competition secretary Terry Wright said: "This is good for the whole sport as it attracts the best from across the UK and Europe to compete against each other for one crown and DDMC are particularly pleased to be involved with running this high-profile event."

Circuit manager Tracey Morley is delighted to have secured the rights to the British Rallycross Grand Prix for a minimum of three years.

She said: "The revival of this great event will attract the highest level of international motorsport to the North of England."

Advance ticket sales have already been made available at a cost of £10 for the Saturday, £12 for the Sunday or a weekend saver costing just £17 for adults by calling the ticket hotline on 01325 721815. Tickets on the day will cost £10, £15 and £20 respectively.

Meanwhile, the Jaguar Car Club pays its annual visit to Croft this weekend, with action on both days including the JCC 100km challenge, Britsports, Britcar and Masters championships plus the ever-popular Northern Sports and Saloon Championship. Admission is £5 tomorrow and £10 on Sunday.