EVEN with 20 wins to his credit, rallyman John Stone rates his fifth place on the Jim Clark National his 'best ever' achievement.

The Blackburn businessman had a storming drive on the two-day, Scottish 'closed road classic', beating some of the best tarmac drivers in the country.

"Without doubt, it was our best result - ever," said Stone, who is managing director of Legend Fires in Blackburn.

"We didn't get off to a great start, and got caught by another car on the very first stage, Abbey St Bathans.

"My co-driver, Lee Carter, gave me a right rollicking when we got to the finish, and that seemed to do the trick

"Although all the stages were new to us, things began to click from the very next test, when we went from 31st quickest to ninth.

"As our confidence with the pacenotes grew, our times came down and things just seemed to get better and better."

Posting a string of top six fastest times, Stone and Carter saved the best to almost last when they were third quickest on the two-mile Langton 3 test, three stages from the finish.

And the pair were delighted to bring their immaculately-prepared Metro 6R4 home just a minute behind multiple tarmac champion John Price, also in a 6R4.

"He's really the benchmark, and we gauge our progress by how close we get to him - and that's our closest yet," he added.

"And we settled a score with Steve Simpson, who beat me on the North West Stages this year, but finished 15 seconds behind us!"

Fifth place has moved the pair up to equal seventh - with Simpson - in the National Tarmac Championship standings, with the Ulster Rally next on the calendar.

"I feel very confident about the Ulster. It's the first time for all the National Tarmac contenders, so it'll be more of a level playing field for everyone," he added.

"In the meantime, there's the small matter of the Promenade Stages at Wallasey in two weeks time, and I'm determined to win that one."

Results: 1: Tony Davies/Jim Kitson (Subaru Impreza WRC) 2; Steve Fleck/Mark Aspinwall (Subaru Impreza WRC) 3; Steve Hendy/Aled Davies (Ford Escort WRC); 4: John Price/Caroline Price (Metro 6R4); 5: John Stone/Lee Carter (Metro 6R4).