THERE were mixed fortunes for East Lancashire-based rally crews in action on last weekend’s Garstang and Preston Motor Club Memorial Road Rally.

Forty-six crews left the Myerscough College start on Saturday evening heading into the Trough of Bowland to tackle a 100-mile route that included five miles of unmade ‘white’ roads.

Burnley optician Neil Bye, who was navigating Mike Figg in a BMW, was one of the first of the night’s casualties being forced to retire after damaging the sump of their 318.

But there was better news for Rishton’s Steve Entwistle and co-driver Bob Hargreaves in only their second competitiive outing in their 997cc Orangebox Mini.

Although seriously outpowered by many cars, and in spite of a misfire caused by dirt in the fuel, the duo still managed a highly creditable fourteenth overall finish and second place in the historic class.

Steve Head and Iain Tullie were overall the winners in their Vauxhall Astra.

Ribble Valley’s Alan Barnes guided Peugeot 205 pilot Bill Chadwick to seventeenth place whilst Accrington duo Paul Buckel and Steven Butler were left to rue what might have been after a timing error saw them finish twenty-fourth.

Simon Boardman couldn’t match his recent Lonsdale Belt result with the Accrington driver, navigated by Clitheroe’s Ian Rayner, settling for 33rd place.

Finishing one place ahead were Padiham’s Alan Douglas and Burnley’s Irvine Holtom in a Vauxhall Corsa.