MARTIN Meadows is in pole position for the coveted BTRDA Gold Star title after he overpowered his rivals on the Somerset Stages.

The Clitheroe driver collected maximum points on the West Country rally with an emphatic victory - by over two minutes - in his Proton Compact.

"It was nice to go back to Somerset and win again. There's something psychological about victory there, and when you've done it once, it seems easier to do it again," said Meadows, who scored his maiden F2 win on the same event in 1996.

"This is the first time I've led the BTRDA standings and I'm absolutely delighted."

The event started badly for Meadows and co-driver Ian Oakey, when they chose the wrong tyres for the opening forest stage, and dropped 10 seconds to the opposition.

But a blistering run on stage two saw the pair grab a lead they never relinquished.

"Once we realised we were well ahead we decided to back off. There's no point in risking everything by driving faster than you have to," he said.

Their only mistake of the day came on one of the two runs at the Porlock Toll Road. The test carries competitors from a sea-level start to finish high up the Exmoor National Park, via a twisting and demanding asphalt stage which requires a totally different driving technique to that applied to the forest tracks.

Explained Meadows: "The Porlock stage is always tricky, in the BTRDA series we don't do a lot of tarmac and we were just caught out.

"The car spun and stalled, but we didn't lose much time."

With more than two minutes in hand over his nearest competitor, the pair enjoyed a comfortable run back to the finish in Minehead.

With two maximum points and a second place so far this season, Meadows and Oakey are looking like favourites for one of the most coveted prizes in British rallying, although they focusing on the next event, the Plains Rally on May 1.

He added: "I feel at home in Wales and the forests are fantastic on the Plains. We've led the event before, but lost out on the very last stage, so I think I've got a score to settle.

"I'm convinced that this championship can be won through consistency, and we got two firsts and a second so far. It's too early to talk about the title, but if we can keep finishing in the top three . . .".

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