Ripon dairyman Charlie Payne returned to the ranges with a vengeance when he took the inaugural Specsavers Stages Rally by over a minute after a superb display in his MSR Mitsubishi Lancer.

With York co-driver Craig Thorley on the notes, the three-times winner of the Northallerton AC event made amends for crashing out of the same rally - formerly the Christmas Stages and traditionally held in the snow and ice of winter - last time.

He recorded a comfortable victory around the Waithwith Bank military range at Catterick Garrison, ahead of the Mitsubishi of Bishop Auckland's Tony Thompson and co-driver Richard Myers.

They were some 65 seconds down on Payne, but only a second ahead of former winner Kevin Procter from Leeming and Northallerton rallycrosser Dave Bellerby - using pace notes for the very first time in the co-driver's seat - in third in their Procter's Coaches Ford Sierra.

Payne made the most of the superb gravel tracks with a stunning time on SS1, some 46 seconds faster than Procter around the 10.5-mile Foxglove test, with Thompson a further two seconds back in third.

The anticipated challenge of Shildon's Barry Johnson and co-driver Don Whyatt in their Barrier Surveillance Subaru WRC didn't materialise on the opening stage, which also saw the demise of the Puma 4x4 of Thimbleby businessman David Brown and co-driver Paul Hudson from Darlington, who retired with a jammed throttled, and Richmond's BTRDA hot shots Mark and Andrew Constantine.

They rolled their Nova at high speed in Halfpenny Woods after only deciding to contest the event the evening before.

Masham butcher Richard Welford, with his father Mick on the notes, went out on the opening stage with fuel starvation problems on his Ford Escort Cosworth, as did the Leyburn pairing of Andrew Holmes and Colin Stockhill in their older version.

Stage two saw Payne increase his lead by another 34 seconds over Procter, who was embroiled in a battle with Thompson. Hunton's Paul Lawson, with rookie co-driver Mick Gilby from Northallerton, was fourth fastest on SS2 to edge up the leaderboard in his Escort WRC and challenge Welshman Andy Kenny's Mitsubishi and Stocksfield driver Michael Glendinning's Subaru.

The two-wheel drive battle saw leading Ford Puma contender Ryan Champion from Castleton and co-driving girlfriend Sophie Robinson retire on the second stage, while the Escort of former winner Charlie Taylor from Northallerton and the similar mark two of Lealholm's Nick Cook and Northallerton co-driver Ian Windress went out on the following test.

Payne's charge was relentless and he went fastest on the penultimate third stage, with Procter increasing his advantage over Thompson to set up a showdown on the final ten-miler over Swardfield.

Three times a runner-up, Aiskew driver Bryan Gill and co-driver Jonathan Bean's jinx continued. The pair went out at final service with a broken engine mount on their Ford Escort Cosworth as the leaders battled it out on the final test.

Payne eased the pace and erred on the side of caution as he scented victory, but Thompson managed to pull back the ten-second deficit on Procter to claim the runner-up spot by the narrowest of margins.

Glendinning netted fourth, half a minute further back, with Kenny a similar distance back in fifth. Johnson was disappointed with sixth on his debut on the ranges, nearly three minutes down on the winner.

Tim Pearcey from Ripon and Bedale's Mick Johnson claimed seventh in their Ford Escort and were the first two-wheel drive car home, identical on time with Exelby driver Chris Lewis and Tow Law co-driver Michael Wilkinson in their Food Weighouse Mitsubishi Lancer.

Darlington's Ian Cartwright and co-driver Shelley Rogerson excelled to finish 20th overall on their way to a class win in their CS Automotive Escort, with Lawson and Gilby finishing one place further down after a problem on the penultimate stage cost them three minutes.

Provisional results. - 1 C Payne/C Thorley, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6, 0:48:48; 2 T Thompson/R Myers, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6, 0:49:53; 3 K Procter/D Bellerby, Ford Sierra Cosworth, 0:49:54; 4 M Glendinning/D Thompson, Subaru Impreza, 0:50:26; 5 A Kenny/G Kenny, Mitsubishi Evo 7, 0:51:04; 6 B Johnson/D Wyhatt, Subaru Impreza, 0:51:36; 7 T Pearcey/M Johnson, Ford Escort, 0:51:40; 8 C Lewis/M Wilkinson, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6, 0:51:40; 9 A Johnson/N Colls, Subaru Impreza, 0:52:01; 10 A Thorburn/K Jones, Subaru Impreza, 0:52:41.

l Local racers gave a good account of themselves in front of over 30,000 fans when the British Superbike Championship visited Cadwell Park on Monday.

In difficult conditions which saw intermittent showers, Darlington superbike racer Mark Burr followed up an 11th place finish in the opening leg with a superb ninth in the second race aboard his 750cc Hawk Kawasaki.

Burr's combined qualifying times placed him in 15th place for the Superpole on Sunday, with his Superpole lap an excellent 2.2 seconds quicker than his previous best time at Cadwell Park to move him up the grid by three places.

Despite incorrect gearing for race one and using cut tyres on a drying track in race two, Burr increased his points tally after his seventh successive points-scoring ride and he now lies just three points off 13th place with six races left.

Guisborough's Dennis Hobbs returned to form with a magnificent ride aboard the Hobbs Suzuki to record another top five placing in the 13-lap Superstock race.

After the disappointment of retiring on the opening lap two weeks previously at Thruxton, Hobbs circulated with the leading bunch for much of the race before settling for fifth after missing a gear.

125cc racer Russ Hodgson from Yarm was hoping for victory after a superb performance the previous weekend and had just taken the lead on his Cameron's Honda when he slid off in damp conditions with just two laps remaining.

The 21-year-old horticulturist managed to remount and finish in ninth, while Middlesbrough's Paul Veazey claimed a safe 11th aboard his VK Honda.

Making a return to the series after a six-round sabbatical, Leyburn's James Brackenbury brought his CJ Racing Yamaha home in 18th place in the Junior Superstock race to record his best result of the year.

Had it not been for a ten-second jump start penalty, Brackenbury would have been within one place of scoring his first points of the season.

The action moves on to Oulton Park this weekend with that meeting and two others remaining.

l Despite his best efforts, Darlington Autotester Paul Swift had to settle for second place at the recent BTRDA Championship meeting in Hartlepool town centre.

Swift was leading the event at lunch by 0.5 seconds, but picked up a penalty in the afternoon which was enough to let Leeds driver Dave Mosey nudge ahead and take the win.

Phil Mayne of Thornaby in a 2.2 litre Capri retired in the morning due to a mechanical gremlin, but Peter Masters of Coundon finished second in class in the Nova Saloon.

Swift now intends to concentrate on the final round of the MSA Championship which takes place at Loughborough on September 8. He is one of three drivers lying within one point of each other and the winner of the event will become the 2002 British champion.

l Aiskew grass track and speedway rider Richard Hall showed good form in the British Masters event held at Wainfleet in Lincolnshire.

After finishing a close second to world long track champion Kelvin Tatum in his opening heat, Hall recorded second, third and fourth place finishes in his other heats to end up ninth overall and secure a place in the European Championships next season.

Hall travels to France this weekend to take part in the supporting races to the world long track meeting held at Morizes