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

North Yorkshire dairy owner Payne, whose last successes at this event came in the National Rally in 2010 and 2009, steered his hybrid Ford Fiesta to victory in the Trackrod Forest Stages Rally - the penultimate round of the RIES-RAVENOL BTRDA Championship.

Payne and co-driver Karl Williamson, from Swansea, finished 88.4 seconds clear of Damian Cole (Abergavenny) and Jack Morton’s (Hexham) Ford Fiesta RS WRC with Pat Naylor (Uttoxeter) and Ian Lawrence (Tamworth) third, 19 seconds further back.

But the main challenge had come from Hamsterley’s Stephen Petch, who won the rally two years ago ahead of Payne.

Petch, also in a Fiesta, was the early leader of the six-stage event and challenged Payne strongly throughout but finally had to wave goodbye to hopes of victory on the penultimate timed test.

“We tried to keep the pressure on and Stephen pushed too hard in the end,” said Payne after spraying the winners champagne around at the Pickering Showground finish.

“He finally went off a few miles into Staindale and we passed him parked up by the side of the road.”

Bannister - the most successful driver in Rally Yorkshire 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 Nick Elliott in what became a battle of the Mk2 Escorts.

Local forest specialist Bannister, from Malton, 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 occasion in the late 1980s.

Welshman Matt Edwards, who topped the Historic leaderboard two years ago and was initially fastest, punctured and lost a decisive four minutes in the dark on Friday night.

Then Matthew Robinson, from Ripon, crashed on Saturday’s second run through Dalby Forest - the same place that saw recently crowned Mintex British Historic Champion Jason Pritchard, also from Wales, roll his Escort out of contention.

That left Bannister clear to wrap up a victory that he claimed was “as rewarding as all the rest”, with Cheltenham duo Elliott and Dave Price second and Simon Webster (Norwich)/Jez Rogers (Bridgenorth) third, two minutes and 36.1 seconds behind the veteran Yorkshireman.

The most unlucky driver was possibly new Welsh Rally Spares RAC champion Phil Burton, from Morecambe, who would have finished third but for an error checking-in early at the opening time control on Saturday morning after a nine was misread for an eight.

Corby’s Edd Cobley proved to be the fastest of the Land Rovers taking part, over two minutes clear of his nearest Defender Challenge by Bowler Series rival Gareth Curruthers, while Alan Paramore (Wellington) continued his dominance among the Armed Forces Land Rovers.