RIPON driver Charlie Payne and Pocklington co-driver Craig Thorley produced a faultless performance to end the 2010 MSA National Gravel Rally Championship with a dominant victory at the Trackrod Rally.
The pair won all six Yorkshire stages in their Ford Focus WRC as County Durham’s Stephen Petch and co-driver John Richardson returned to Scarborough second overall.
Newly crowned champions, Huggate’s Jonny Milner and Ian Windress were chasing Payne and Thorley all morning but the pair retired their Toyota Corolla WRC with a damaged rear link arm two stages from the end of the event.
The result saw Payne and Thorley claim second place overall in the championship.
Payne said: “It was a great result for us. We had a good clean run with no real dramas. The weather made it very interesting and we survived a huge moment on the last stage so we were really lucky to make the finish.”
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