LAST weekend’s Trackrod Rally held in the famously fast North Yorkshire forests of Dalby, Cropton, Langdale and Gale Rigg brought the curtain down on both the BTRDA and Mintex British Historic Championship and with it championship silverware for two local crews.

It was Ross garage owner Steve Bennett who took top local honours on the Trackrod Historic Stages with second overall. With the experienced Paul Spooner on board in the Dave Jenkins Motorsport prepared Escort RS1800, the event ended a mixed year on a high note for Bennett.

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 with local hero Steve Bannister in his RS1800 who’s 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.

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 and with it went any hopes of championship class win eventually finishing seventh overall second in class D3 and second in class in the D3 championship.

“The spins have cost us dear, we lost 20 seconds and Shawn (Rayner) got past us,” said Simmons. “We needed the class win but its still been a good year, really enjoyed it.”

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

The Trackrod Stages which offered some 45 miles in a all daylight format saw Bob Morgan and Adie Williams venture 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 causing them to lose more than two minutes and plummet down the leaderboard. They then spent the rest of the event playing with settings to learn more about car with its new found extra power, finishing 23rd overall and fifth in class.

Williams said: “Not a great start, but we then used it as a test ahead of the Wyedean. The stages are so fast up here its hard to pick your breaking points.”

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.