MITSUBISHI man Thomas Naughton upset the form book to notch up his first ever rally win on the Park Hall Stages.

Seeded down at car 20, the Manchester-based driver kept his car on the road and out of trouble, capitalising on the mistakes of others to bring his Evo6 home 11 seconds clear of the field.

But the undoubted stars of the show were Kevin Furber and Liam O'Kane, who kept the spectators entertained with a brilliant display of car control in the treacherous conditions.

Using all of the road and most of the grass, the former Hapton driver demonstrated all his natural ability by getting his little Peugeot 206 sideways everywhere, and still beating his rivals in quicker cars.

Third place went to father-and-son team of Robin Farrington Junior and Senior, who were consistently quick all day in their Ford Puma.

Sub-zero temperatures at the Park Hall Leisure complex at Charnock Richard left the narrow perimeter roads covered in sheet ice, with virtually no grip for the opening cars.

Although the combination kept the hundreds of spectators happy, many drivers were left with very bent machinery by the end of the day.

Unluckiest was pre-event favourite John Stone, from Blackburn, who was seeded at car one in his Legend Gas Fires-backed Metro 6R4.

Clearly the quickest driver in the capacity 60-car field, Stone and co-driver Lee Carter clocked the fastest time on the first six stages before collecting a maximum penalty on stage seven when they came in a lap early.

Although the pair bounced back with another fastest time, they then lost third gear and settled for a finish -- in 22nd place.

Rossendale father-and-son team Colin and Mark Blunt were delighted to record one of their best-ever results, bringing their Peuegot 205GTi home an excellent sixth overall and second in class.

Peugeot 205 Challenge front-runner Ben Calvert, from Longridge, borrowed series co-ordinator Pat Flynn's 205GTi as a one-off and had the satisfaction of finishing 10th overall -- and returning car in one piece!

Other East Lancashire finishers included husband-and-wife team Richard and Melanie Banks, from Foulridge, in 15th place, Pendle DMC pair Dave Blackburn and Stephen Coates who were 29th in their Datsun Violet, and Nick and Sarah Clitheroe who coaxed their 1-litre Nissan Micra to 32nd.