Ross-on-Wye garage owner, Steve Bennett took top local honours on the Trackrod Historic Stages, held in the famously fast North Yorkshire forests.

He was second overall, with the experienced Paul Spooner on board, in the Dave Jenkins Motorsport prepared Escort RS1800 and this result ended a mixed year on a high note for Bennett.

As the winner of this Rally is not BHRC registered it meant Steve won the championship outright. He told the Ross Gazette: “It is always nice to get a reward back from motor sport, it does not happen very often.”

“I set out to get a win and I got one, so I am delighted and hope to continue this success next year,” he added.

The historic event offered 55 competitive miles, starting with just over 10 miles of Dalby Forest on Friday night. The strong historic entry was headed by local hero, Steve Bannister in his RS1800, who has been winning countless events in these forests for nearly 40 years. The Malton farmer was the man to beat but Bennett kept him on his toes with a string of second fastest times to finish his BHRC campaign in top spot.

Ben Friend with Cliffy Simmons on the notes in the Allglass Escort RS were looking for a class win to take the D3 BHRC class win, but a consistent run was spoilt with two high speed spins. With them went any hopes of a championship class win and they eventually finished seventh overall, second in class D3 and second in class in the D3 championship.

Simon Pickering and Colin Jenkins took sixth in Category Two and first in class after a trouble-free run in their Escort RS.

Bob Morgan and Adie Williams ventured to Yorkshire for the very first time in the Winner Garage Skoda Fabia, but they didn’t get off to the best start when an electrical plug worked loose on the opening test. They lost more than two minutes and plummeted down the leaderboard. They then spent the rest of the event playing with settings to learn more about the car, with its new found extra power, finishing 23rd overall and fifth in class.

“It was not a great start, but we then used it as a test ahead of the Wyedean. The stages are so fast up here it’s hard to pick your braking points,” said Williams.

Spencer Price and Chris Hands, in the TPS Gates Landrover Discovery, completed their BTRDA campaign with 50th overall and 12th in class, despite catching and passing three cars during the day.

Ross-on-Wye duo, Scott Partridge with Mike Jode, didn’t have the best of days in the Bullit Polish/Belfry Hotel Subaru Impreza with a stage maximum on stage four. They finished 71st and 14th in class but scored enough points to secure the B13 championship class in the BTRDA series for 2016.