Poole's John Hardy and Danny Duffy survived a massive 50 mile an hour impact with a tree during Sunday's Tempest 2000 Stages Rally in Surrey.

The pair were taken to Frimley Park hospital for check-ups and x-rays after being rescued from the severely damaged wreckage of their Seat Ibiza following the high speed accident.

After two hours they were released with nothing more serious than bruising - but both were nursing sore necks and backs this week.

The incident came as they were chasing class honours on the final round of the Rally 2000 Championship.

"I was just getting the handling of the car right and we were really flying when this corner after a bridge came up a lot sharper than we anticipated," explained Hardy.

"I got it sideways one way and then it came back the other way and finally we went head-on into this tree. I asked the marshals why we had a problem and they said we were going quicker than anyone else."

For Hardy, his season finished in much the same way as it had started - on his first rally of 2000 he rolled the Ibiza.

However, there was some good news, with the support of his sponsors, Magna Golf Club, Abacus and Top-Notch Fencing, Hardy has raised over £3,500 for Leukaemia Re-search.

Hardy and Duffy are scheduled to be back in action next February for the Sunseeker Rallye in Bournemouth - possibly in a four-wheel drive car.

Also competing in the Tempest Rally on the wooded army ranges in the Aldershot area were Tony Petts from Christ-church and Tim Chapman from Poole.

Driving their Ford Escort MkII 1600, with servicing provided by Eclipse Motor Group, they finished a highly creditable 29th overall and were the top rear wheel drive entry in their class.

This was achieved despite having to run on a puncture for two stages, which forced them into a spin costing 30 seconds.

Petts and Chapman were hoping for a good result in an attempt to retain their class title, but with their main rivals also finishing the event and having had to sit out several rounds this year, the pair had to settle for the runner-up slot.

Finishing four places above them in the results came championship hopefuls Steve Colville and Fiona Thornton from Ringwood in their Escort Mk V RS2000.

Using the Escort for the forest stages instead of their rear-wheel drive tarmac favouring Metro they still found the going tough.

On route to a finish, they broke two engine mounts and had to drive the final two stages with just two gears - but because the wet tracks were so slippery they did not lose too much time.