HISTORY repeated itself when Ripon dairyman Charlie Payne won the Malton Forest Rally for the fourth year on the trot in his WRC Ford Fiesta.

It was nip and tuck all day in Cropton, Gale Rigg and Langdale forests with Ollie Mellors in the Proton Iriz R5 taking an early lead.

Payne gradually pulled Mellors back and particularly good times on the last two stages gave him victory by 11 seconds.

In third place was Durham's Stephen Petch in his WD40 Fiesta, a further 24 seconds behind.

A particularly good result was had by Malton driver Dan Mennel in his Subaru WRC, finishing fifth overall.

In the two-wheel drive section, the competition was even fiercer with a three-way battle eventually won by Ripon road planing engineer Matthew Robinson in his historic spec Ford Escort Mk II, ahead of British champion Matt Edwards in the Malton-built Fiat 131.

The winning margin was eventually seven seconds, with Malton potato farmer Steve Bannister third a further 18 seconds back.

These three were all in historic spec cars and in fact ended up sixth, seventh and eighth overall, beating many four-wheeled-drive cars in the process.

A total of 89 cars started the event with 73 finishing, a much higher percentage than usual. The event was very well received by most competitors with lots of complimentary remarks posted on social media. Full results are available on the event website www.maltonforestrally.co.uk

Leading positions overall: 1 Charlie Payne/Car Williamson (Fiesta WRC) 37.08; 2 Ollie Mellors/Ian Windress (Proton Iriz R5) 37.19; 3 Stephen Petch/M Wilkinson (Fiesta WRC) 37.43; 4 Ian Bainbridge/Daniel May (Subaru Impreza) 39.44; 5 Dan Mennel/Tom Rogers (Subaru Impreza) 39.47.

Leading positions two wheel drive: 1 Matthew Robinson/Sam Collis (Ford Escort Mk II) 39.58; 2 Matt Edwards/H Campbell (Fiat 131) 40.05; 3 Steve Bannister/C Atkinson (Ford Escort Mk II) 40.23; 4 David Crosson/Aileen Kelly (Ford Escort Mk II) 41.20; 5 Nick Carr/Joe Sturdy (Ford Escort Mk II) 42.01.