LUDLOW Castle Motor Club member Simon Mellings, along with co driver Max Freeman pulled off a fine second place at the Barcud Road Rally, which started from Tregaron.

The pair got off to a good start despite the tough route in the first half before the petrol halt, and were leading their Championship round by more than 12 minutes.

In the second half of the rally, the car was starting to develop head gasket problems which slowed them down, but they were still able to make the finish in second place in their Championship round.

This extended their championship lead further.

Fellow LCMC member Anthony Gluyas was co driving for Lee Edwards from Welsh Border Club in a Peugeot 106.

The first 20 miles went well and they were in 11th place overall. After 20 miles, the gearbox let go resulting in their retirement from the event.

Telford Auto Club organised the single venue stage Millward Contractors Ditton Priors Stages Rally which attracted 28 competitors.

Ludlow Castle Motor Club had members competing, starting with Ben Innes co driving for Oliver Davies in the powerful Mk2 Ford Escort at car 1.

The pair led for nine of the 12 stages, but despite going off the road twice on stage 10 they managed to finish second overall and first in class.

Mal Perrott/Mike Wilding teamed up for Perrott's first time at this venue and they adapted to the stages very well. "We had to change three tyres during the day due to hitting curbs, and we had an anti roll bar come loose at speed which caused us a bit of a fright," said Wilding. "We also had a couple of spins which lost us time, but we are happy with fifth overall and second in class."

Tim Cains/Richard May retired their Peugeot 309 T16 after breaking two drive shafts. Despite the first one breaking on stage one, the pair managed to keep in the top 10 until stage seven where the second drive-shaft failure caused them to retire.

Duncan Edwards/Colin Stevens finished fourth overall and first in class in their Mk2 Ford Escort.

A very slippery event, especially in the woods, saw most competitors run on knobbly tyres.

As conditions dried out, most crews changed to cut slicks which turned out very interestingly when it started to rain.

Only 18 crews finished the rally.