THE spell of bad luck that has plagued Phil Peak and Chris Reid this season ended in impressive style when they tackled the Bill Gwynne Rallyschool & Motorsport Stages.

For the pair, who have suffered two major retirements already this year, won their class and finished 16th overall -- in a borrowed car.

Peak, from Oswaldtwistle, and his Scottish driver had originally intended to use a Group A Peugeot 205 1.9 on the event, but a last minute glitch saw the deal fall through and the pair found themselves seeded at number 11 with no transport.

Help was at hand though and Chris was handed the opportunity to return to his roots with the offer of fellow competitor Richard Cook's 205 Challenge Car.

"I can't believe the support we've been given for this event, Richard has been fantastic and we really appreciate what they've done," explained Phil

"It was apparent that the extra power of the 1900 derivatives was a distinct advantage on the long climbs around the Sweet Lamb complex but we still had hopes of a class win.

Llandridod based businessman and BTRDA Champion Graham Middleton was on hand to offer advice and after a pep talk the team removed the spare wheel and all unnecessary items to try and lighten the car in a bid to pull back time over the remaining 4 stages.

"Having someone like Graham showing an interest and being around to offer advice has really helped Chris to focus and put in some impressive times ," added Phil.

"He's been a hard task master for us both but it's been a great experience to be around the Gwynnes and Graham. Middleton's Matador Tyre Business provided a set of gravel spec rubber for the event so his interest in the pairing was probably as much business as pleasure.

"Today has been brilliant and without Richard's help it wouldn't have been possible, our success is down to their generosity and hard work of everyone involved with the team.

"The result is our way of saying thanks to them all and hopefully we've met the expectations and shown that we've got the pace and commitment to succeed."

Chris Reid and Phil Peak would like to thank Richard Cook and Edith Hunter, Bill, Paul, Ian and all at Bill Gwynne Rallyshool & Motorsport and Matador Tyres, CERL and PSA Design for their support on this event and look forward to continued involvement in the future.