NORTH Yorkshire potato farmer Steve Bannister chipped in with a home success when he won the Historics class of the Malton Forest Rally.

Bannister, with Louise Sutherland beside him in his Ford Escort Mk2, led Matthew Robinson, also in an Escort Mk2, by just two seconds after the first stage in Langdale, but the battle between the two was ruined when Robinson was forced to retire due to a broken driveshaft on stage two.

This left Weaverthorpe-based Bannister, seeded number one in class, with a 12-second lead over Peter Smith, also in an Escort Mk2, which he extended to 50 seconds by the end of the first Cropton stage.

Ben Mellors fought hard to repair both himself and his car after his Trackrod Rally Yorkshire accident and was a further 28 seconds back.

Mellors then leapfrogged Smith into second place to head him by 20 seconds. However, he retired after an accident on stage five which left Bannister with a dominant class win – and fifth place overall – by 90 seconds over Smith, with local rival Steve Magson an excellent third driving a Mk1 Escort rather than his more familiar Vauxhall Chevette.

Pickering garage owner Magson, with Geoff Atkinson co-driving, had damaged their Chevette in last month’s Trackrod Rally Yorkshire, so the decision to buy the Escort RS 2000 proved right.

With Darren Smith navigating, Magson gave a brilliant drive to also take a class win.

Millington Proton driver Ollie Mellors, of Derbyshire, was the overall winner of the rally, coming in a mere seven seconds ahead of County Durham’s Stephen Petch, who was out for the first time in a Fiesta R5.

Mellors led by nine seconds after the first stage and at the half-way point held just an 11-second advantage. The lead rose to 14 seconds ahead of the final stage but Mellors saw his adversary chip away at this advantage.

However, he hung on to claim his first win, by a mere seven seconds, with McNeil third, a further 47 seconds behind after an outstanding drive.

There was another superb run from Malton Motor Club’s Mat Smith, who finished ninth overall in his 1400cc Ford Ka and first in class by a massive gap of five minutes 49 seconds.

Smith, with Giles Dykes co-driving, gave arguably the drive of the rally.

Full results can be found at www.maltonforestrally.co.uk