PEUGEOT Super 106 Cup contender, Ryan Champion put up a strong performance in the second round of the championship when he contested The Rallye du Charlemagne in northern France last weekend.

Co-driven by Northallerton's Ian Windress, Ryan, from Castleton, set fastest time out of the thirty Super Cup entrants on the first Friday evening stage and lead the field into the majority of the action on Saturday in the rally that formed a round of the West European Cup and attracted 190 entries from all over Europe.

Heavy rain made the tarmac stages very slippery, and the pair fought a morning-long battle with first round winner, Rory Galligan ,but the Irish driver retired from the event due to an accident, leaving Champion with a comfortable 40- second lead with just stages to go.

But luck was not on the Yorkshiremen's side either. A front wheel puncture six miles from the end of the stage caused the crew to have to stop and change the wheel losing them well over three minutes and in such a close championship they feared this would drop them right down the order.

However, another fastest time on the last stage was enough to put them back up to second in the Peugeot Super 106 Cup by the end of the event and 24th overall. The next round of the Peugeot Super 106 Cup is the Swansea Bay Rally in the forests of South Wales on July 21st.

l Ten years since he contested the British Supersport Championship aboard the Polstar Honda, Northallerton's Paul Mackley made a winning comeback to the sport when he took a hat-trick of victories at the Auto 66 Clubman's Challenge Road Races at Elvington Park last weekend.

The 39-year-old Courier showed he had lost none of his old form when he raced to a victory in the 175-400cc Junior event aboard the 250cc Steve Brown Racing Manton Honda before claiming a pair of wins in the blue-riband Unlimited Clubman's Challenge events.

Also claiming a treble victory was 15-year-old Middlesbrough schoolboy Paul Veazey, who romped to victory in the Formula 125cc event before taking a brace of impressive wins in the 125cc GP class aboard the TJW Aprilia.

Darlington's Richard Harrison posted a pair of first places when he took both Formula 500 events on his CB Honda and followed these up with a hat-trick of runner up positions in the Sound of Thunder class.

Bishop Auckland rider Barry Burrell was also in good form when he scored a total of three second-place finishes on his Aprilia 125 in the Formula 125cc class and rounded off a good performance with a 7th place in the 125cc Open race.

Neil Bainbridge from Hutton Rudby followed up a fifth place in the 125cc GP event with a third and a second place later on in the day aboard his 125cc Honda whilst Middlesbrough's Simon Hadfield performed consistently during the day with a best result of 5th in the final 125cc GP race.

The Richmond sidecar pairing of Phillips and Burns had a best result of second out of their six finishes on the 600cc Yamaha outfit whilst Durham rider John Hind posted a pair of fourth places in the Formula Clubman's event on his Yamaha R1.

Busiest man of the day was once again Rob Brown who took his 600cc Yamaha to no less than six top ten finishes. The Barnard Castle rider's best results were a pair of fourths in the Formula 600cc event and a brace of second places in the Novice Championship.

l Many of the region's racers will be in action at Oliver's Mount Scarborough this weekend when the annual Cock o' the North Road Races take place as a culmination to the Auto 66 Club's Bikeweek Festival.

l For the first time in 23 years, the area's most prestigious car rally has had to be cancelled because of the foot and mouth epidemic.

The York-based Trackrod Rally Yorkshire was set to join the ranks of the British Rally Championship this year and scheduled to run as the final round of the series in September but the recent outbreaks of the disease on the Yorkshire Moors where the event was to have been staged, have meant organisers have had to scrap their plans.