HISTORIC rallyman Steve Entwistle dusted off the cobwebs in his driving gloves when he made a welcome return to the sport on last weekend's Westmorland Rally, writes NEIL JOHNSON.

Entwistle, whose last competitive outing was the 1998 Welsh Retro, tackled the 150-mile event in Chris Day's standard-engined 1967 Mini Cooper S.

And with Day on the maps for the first time, the pair finished a very creditable 24th overall.

"I really just wanted to get back into the swing of doing road rallies," explained Entwistle, who lives in Accrington.

"The aim was to settle ourselves in in the first half, and then have a go in the second, and it worked.

"Although we dropped 28 minutes in penalties before the petrol halt, we lost just four minutes in the second half."

The duo are hoping to tackle next month's Mitchells of Lancaster Morecambe Rally and the Illuminations Rally in October.

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