THERE were mixed fortunes for Ludlow Castle Motor Club members Jez Rogers and Colin Griffiths on the Amman and District Motor Club’s Red Kite Rally.

Rogers tasted champagne on the MSA British Historic Rally Championship podium, coming home to claim third place after a nailbiting final section, and despite a time-consuming puncture, but Griffiths rolled his BMW to end his interest in the standings.

The Welsh event covered 45 stage miles in the under-used forests of the Neath Valley with each stage being nine miles long and with two of them being repeated.

Rogers – in the co-driver’s seat of Simon Webster’s MKII Escort – started at car nine and after two dusty stages, the duo were second in the historic section and the first registered crew, as the leader was not registered for championship points.

However, a puncture for the last three miles of stage three – and a slight excursion into the undergrowth – saw them surrender an 18-second advantage over Steve Bennett and Osian Owen as their rivals overtook them by four seconds with championship contender Paul Barrett ten seconds back in third.

Stage four saw Barrett and co-driver Will Rogers take eight seconds off Rogers and Webster as both crews passed Bennett and Owen, who were also competing in a MKII Escort.

Holding a slender, two-second advantage into the final stage – and with Bennett and Owen just a second further back – Rogers and Webster could not hold out and finished third, a second behind Bennett and Owen.

Ludlow Castle’s Griffiths – alongside new co-driver Jade Phillips in a BMW Compact were flying in the MSA Pirelli Welsh Championship for the 32 seeds to sit seventh overall after two fast stages.

But their rally ended when they rolled the BMW coming into a bend too quickly, with both crew members escaping unharmed despite extensive damage to the vehicle.

Griffiths hopes to be back in Welsh Championship action at Builth Wells for Saturday’s Nicky Grist Stages.