BEDALE rally driver Joe Cunningham continued his great recent form by claiming another top ten placing when he contested last weekend’s Legend Fires North West Stages Rally.

The unique event ran over 14 stages of closed roads around the Preston and Garstang area and up against the cream of British and indeed World rallying, Joe and Scruton co-driver Josh Beer brought their Procter’s Coaches-backed Ford Fiesta home in an impressive eighth place overall.

Amongst the 125-strong entry were a number of other local competitors including Saltburn’s Neil Colman who guided Lancastrian Mark Kelly to third place overall in their Ford Fiesta R5. Taking their customary class win was the 1400cc Vauxhall Corsa of Richmond brothers Mark and Andrew Constantine who claimed 39th overall, just four places ahead of Carl and Rob Tuer, originally from Birkby but now living in Scotland, who were debuting their Renault Clio 3RT.

Thirsk husband and wife, Jon and Alison Trenholme had another good run on one of their favourite events to bring their Subaru home in 64th overall and 12th in class with the recently-built Ford Fiesta S1400 of Pickhill’s Bruce Lindsay impressing to finish in 68th and fourth in class.

Sinderby dad and daughter, Bill and Kari Bates were making another appearance on the event and brought their Tanfield Engineering Peugeot 106 home in 74th overall and eight in class whilst Saltburn’s Sam Colman endured a tough day in the Subaru she was sharing with Mark Ewing to see the finish ramp in 78th overall and last of the official finishers.

Crook’s David Henderson saw his recent winning streak ended when he retired his Ford Fiesta R5 with a gearbox problem after 11 of the 14 stages with similar issues putting Northallerton garage proprietor Anth Eaton and Hartburn co-driver Ian Jackson out in their Autotest Ford Fiesta R4 after just four stages.

Welbury driver Tim Johnson got as far as SS6 when the Honda Civic he was sharing with Mickleton co-driver Tony Walker suffered electrical problems whilst on the same stage, Cat Lund from Bolton on Swale saw hopes dashed after the historic Saab 900 she was sharing with Adam Charlesworth hit a gatepost and retired. However, Thirsk’s Tim Pearcey and Consett driver Peter Gibson only got as far as the first stage before retiring their respective Mitsubishi Lancers.