TERRY Martin and Neil Bye have moved into the top three of the SD34 Road Rally Championship after an excellent run on the Gordon Musgrove Memorial Rally.

Martin, from Blackburn, and co-driver Simon Bentley finished seventh overall in their Peugeot 205GTi, one place behind the son-and-father team of Neil and Stephen Bye, from Burnley, driving a Ford Escort.

"It was a cracking rally.

Everyone enjoyed driving on classic lanes that hadn't been used for 10 years," said Martin.

The 120-mile event, organised by Garstang and Preston Motor Club, started after a 20-mile run out with the first competitive section through Nook, near Crooklands, around Old Town and finishing with the yumps at Killington.

First casualties were SD34 champions Jon Lawson and Chris Pringle, from Pendle DMC, who retired with travel sickness, although the pair recovered sufficiently later in the night to help with marshalling.

Torrential rain and standing water made the going difficult for crews on the tight and twisty sections through Cowperthwaite and Fox's Pulpit, and 11 crews went OTL (Over Time Limit) at the Kirkby Lonsdale petrol halt. Martin and Bentley survived a heart-stopping moment on the penultimate passage between Caton and Quernmore, when they came over a blind brow to find a deer in the road!

The final section through the Trough of Bowland, Abbeystead and Scarton proved to be a classic, with the ford at Whiteacre catching out many drivers - Neil Bye was pushed out of the water, while SD34 championship leader Jayne Hill had to be towed out. Clitheroe DMC pair Keith Turner and Heidi Winstanley collected the award for top novices after finishing 19th overall in their Volkswagen Golf.

Result - 1: Michael Monaghan/Iain Tullie 23m 52s; 2: Kevin Ikin/Rob Jones 30.03; 3: Paul Holmberg/Dave Pitchford 22.58 1 Fail; 4: Jayne Hill/Andrew Hughes 41.27 1F; 5: Malcolm Grisedale/Bob Hargreaves 50.17 1F; 6: Neil Bye/Stephen Bye 53.20 1F; 7: Terry Martin/Simon Bentley 62.34 2F; 8: Brian Harrison/Peter Morris 49.12 3F; 9: David Cameron/Richard Todd 52.17 3F; 10: Peter Tyson/Neil Harrison 41.16 4F.

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