LOCAL stars proved there is no substitute for experience as Charlie Payne and Steve Bannister claimed both major awards at the 2015 Trackrod Rally Yorkshire last weekend.

Ripon driver Payne, whose last successes at the event were winning the National Rally in 2010 and 2009, steered his hybrid Ford Fiesta to victory in the Trackrod Forest Stages Rally, which counted as the penultimate round of the RIES-Ravenol BTRDA Rally Championship.

Along with Welsh co-driver Carl Williamson, he finished 88.4 seconds clear of Damian Cole, with Stanley’s Jack Morton in the co-driver’s seat of the Ford Fiesta WRC, after the early challenge had come from Hamsterley’s Stephen Petch, who won the rally two years ago ahead of Payne.

Petch, in the SGP Motorsport and WD-40-backed Ford Fiesta R5 plus, along with Northallerton co-driver Ian Windress, was the early leader of the six-stage event and challenged Payne strongly throughout, but a sticking throttle on the penultimate timed test led to retirement.

Malton rallying legend Steve Bannister, the most successful driver in the event’s history, took his fourth win in six years in the Trackrod Historic Cup for cars pre-dating 1985, finishing one minute and 50 seconds ahead of Nick Elliott in what became a battle of the Mk2 Escorts.

Bannister, aided by Scottish co-driver Kevin Rae, saw off numerous determined challenges before adding to an impressive CV which includes becoming the first man to win the event outright on three occasions in the late 1980s.

Ripon’s Matthew Robinson, along with co-driver Sam Collis, crashed his Ford Escort Mk2 on Saturday’s second run through Dalby Forest while leading the event.

In the main event, Teesside driver Peter Stephenson and Tyneside co-driver Paul Hughes powered their MG2000 to ninth overall and fourth in class, while Scorton’s Steve Petch and Exelby co-driver John Richardson finished 16th in the SGP Ford Fiesta Super 2000 with nothing much to report other than a couple of half spins and being on the rev limiter a lot as the conditions were ideal for rallying on the dry and clean stages.

Ripon driver David Hutchinson claimed 39th overall and third in class in his Ford Escort, three places ahead of Ripon brother and sister team Gary and Kirsty Beckwith, who took their Ford Escort Mk2 to sixth in class. Andy Davison, from Potto, made a welcome return in a Talbot Sunbeam and was rewarded with 44th overall and seventh in class, just ahead of the Durham Subaru pairing of Colin Payne and Andy Brown.

Heighington’s Mike Williams, with Bishop Auckland co-driver Steve Perry, took his Mitsubishi Lancer to 47th overall and 13th in class, with Pickhill’s Bruce Lindsay guiding Andy Reid to 59th overall and eighth in class in their Renault Megane Coupe.

Ripon driver Graeme Powell claimed a class win en route to 62nd overall in his Ford Escort, while in the historic event, Northallerton’s Charlie Taylor and York co-driver Alan Ward finished 14th overall and seventh in class. Thirlby driver Terry Cree and Boltby co-driver Richard Shores took second in class and 23rd overall in their BMW2002, and in the Landrover class, Stokesley’s Chris McCarthy guided Alan Paramore to a class win and 41st overall.

Sadly, a few local crews didn’t make the Pickering finish after the high-speed event in the classic North York Moors forest stages of Dalby, Cropton and Staindale. These included Thirsk’s Mat Smith and co-driver Chris Row, who were holding second in the 1400cc class in their Proton Satria when they had to retire on the final stage with electrical problems.

Thirsk co-driver Charlotte Banner guided Matt Thompson to the class lead before they retired with gearbox problems in their VW Polo and an oil leak ended the day for Pickhill co-driver Kari Bates, who was in action in the Ford Escort Mk2 she was sharing with Graham Haigh.

Fellow Pickhill co-driver Chris Pattison was also out of luck when the MG ZR he was sharing with Gary Wright suffered a broken gearbox on SS5.