LOCAL rally ace Steve Petch made a winning return to Yorkshire when he claimed his third consecutive victory on last weekend's Kall Kwik National Rally, organised by De Lacy MC and based in Pickering.

Having sampled victory for the past two years, as well as winning last November's De Lacy Stages event in the same complex, Petch, from Scorton, and his Northallerton co-driver John Richardson produced a determined drive to clinch the hat-trick in their trusty SGP Motorsport Hyundai Accent WRC.

But the pair were made to fight all the way after a concerted effort from Ripon dairy farmer Charlie Payne and York travel agent Craig Thorley in their Subaru Impreza almost denied them their customary win.

Payne stormed into an immediate lead on the opening eight-mile stage in Dalby, recording fastest time by a second ahead of Shildon's Barry Johnson and co-driver Stewart Merry.

However, the Scottish champion's overnight trip back from the Snowman Rally in Scotland - where he started the defence of his title with a fourth place - proved fruitless when he crashed out on the second test in Staindale after a couple of niggling problems before the start.

Petch was third fastest ahead of Castleton's Ryan Champion and co-driver Cliff Simmons (Mitsubishi Lancer), the 27-year-old part-time rally instructor having only finished building the car at 3am on the morning of the rally.

The event was already starting to take its toll as a number of fancied runners went out on SS1. They included Paul Bird (Penrith), whose Hyundai Accent WRC blew a turbo, reigning British touring car champion James Thompson from York and co-driver Plug Pulleyn from Easingwold, whose Mitsubishi stopped with no compression, and Thimbleby businessman David Brown and co-driver Tony Walker from Richmond, whose Ford Puma EVO 4x4 also suffered transmission failure.

Also exiting on the opening stage were Masham's Richard and Mick Welford, who suffered engine failure in their Beavers Ford Escort Cosworth, as well as Harrogate driver Tim Pearcey and co-driver Mick Johnson from Pickhill, who went out in their Ford Escort with a broken cam belt.

Payne, himself twice a winner of the event, increased his advantage on Staindale (SS2) before Petch fought back on the first of the Newclose tests to lie just one second down at first service, with Champion a further 14 back in third.

Malton's Mike Stephenson was going well in his Ford Escort Cosworth in fourth, just ahead of Bridlington driver Richard Watts' similar car and the Mitsubishi of Vodka Kick boss Steve Perez (Chesterfield) completing the top six.

Langdale was effectively scrubbed, with the top seven crews cleaning the stage, and then, on the little-used Deepdale stage, it was the Group N Lancer of Champion which emerged quickest, ahead of Payne by a second, with Petch a further second back in third and suffering with a minor gearbox problem.

Into second service and Payne was now two seconds ahead of Petch, with Champion maintaining station in third as the cars left for the final loop. Petch, with gearbox fixed, upped the pace on Dalby 2 to take five seconds out of Payne before doing likewise on the penultimate stage in Newclose - where Payne's cause wasn't helped by a spin and a slow puncture - to lead by eight seconds going into the second Langdale test.

With that stage also looking likely to be cleaned, the rally could only be lost and so it proved, with the top three beating the bogey to leave Petch to clinch a hard-fought win ahead of the gallant Payne, with Champion a respectable third. Watts got the better of Stephenson for fourth, with Perez fending off a concerted challenge for sixth.

Ingleton's Tony Thompson and co-driver Richard Myers from Darlington were another pair to make the overnight trip from Inverness and, after posting an impressive 12th overall in Scotland, they followed that up with a fine seventh overall in Yorkshire in their MSR-prepared Tidybike Mitsubishi.

Northallerton's Charlie Taylor and co-driver Steve Beilby powered their Ford Escort to 20th overall and third in class, just under a minute and one class place in front of Whitby driver Nick Cook in a similar car.

But Redcar driver Dave Craven and co-driver Ian Jackson from Eaglescliffe ended up retiring after running out of time when a turbo broke on their NSS Ford Sapphire Cosworth when they were lying inside the top ten.

Top ten finishers. - 1 S Petch/J Richardson, Hyundai Accent WRC, 52mins 24secs; 2 C Payne/C Thorley, Subaru Impreza, 52.32; 3 R Champion/C Simmons, Mitsubishi Lancer, 52.56; 4 R Watts/C Parling, Ford Escort Cosworth, 55.04; 5 M Stephenson/R Jarvis, Ford Escort Cosworth, 55.17; 6 S Perez/S Harris, Mitsubishi Lancer, 55.21; 7 T Thompson/R Myers, Mitsubishi Lancer, 55.45; 8 G Jennings/G Noble, Peugeot 106, 56.06; 9 J Nolan/P Nolan, Mitsubishi Lancer, 56.11; 10 J Bannister/G Wilcock, Ford Sapphire Cosworth, 57.03.

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