TERRY Martin is back in the driving seat of the SD34 Road Rally Championship - despite a night of woes on the latest round.

Martin, from Blackburn, and navigator Jerry Hettrick endured problem after problem with their Peugeot 205GTi on Garstang and Preston Motor Club's 130-mile long Memorial rally.

"We had two small offs in the first half, then the oil pressure switch went faulty and we lost all our oil," explained the reigning SD34 champion.

"Although we managed to get it fixed at the petrol halt, the delay meant we had to book out late, which put us under pressure.

"However, we were going well by this time and managed to catch and pass front-runner Dennis Quinn on the Scorton section.

"But our luck didn't last and we went off, only to be saved by fellow competitors Paul Buckel and Stephen Butler who managed to tow us out.

"In the end we were happy just to get to the finish albeit in 17th place."

With their close rivals Pete Jagger and Bill Parkin finishing four places behind in 21st, the result handed the championship lead back to Martin and Hettrick.

Overall, victory went to Myles Gleave and Jason Crook (Peugeot 205GTi) with Steve Retchless and Sam Collis second in their Ford Escort.

Next outing for Martin is the Countdown Rally, where he starts at car number one after winning the event outright last year.