It was day of mixed fortunes for local crews in the Rallynuts Stages with former Bream boy Craig Drew climbing to ninth place in the British Rally Championship section before turbo issues forced him and Rhys Yates to retire, writes Paul Willetts.

Reigning 1400 champions Nigel and Karen Jenkins in the NJ Autos Vauxhall Nova were embroiled in a good battle with the Suzuki S1400 of Steve Black.

Black held a slender lead at service and although Jenkins had lost time with the car cutting out ,the battle raged 

on until the final stage when unfortunately the Nova ground to a halt.

Frantic work under the bonnet eventually saw it fire up and they were able to complete the final stage managing some BTRDA points with 6th in class but it was a disappointing end to a good encounter.

Cinderford’s Adrian Williams teamed up with Simon Rogers in his Mitsubishi Evo 6 looking for Welsh championship points but a broken gearbox on stage four ended a promising run 

Geoff Phelps, in his 101st rally with Colin Jenkins in the Hartpury Farms Escort RS1800 were looking for Welsh points, and another solid drive netted useful points with 68th and sixth in class.

Ross duo Gary Bollands and Nigel Baldwin were having a good run until Stage Four when they lost nearly nine minutes and dropped 74 places to 155th overall in the GB Motor Services Subaru Stationwagon but they fought back to finish 124th overall 

Newent duo Jeremy and Alex Harris in the immaculate Kilcot Garage Mk1 Escort Mexico on their second outing in the car finished 126th 

The event celebrating its 40th anniversary was a tremendous challenge and the sponsors and organisers deserve great credit for a fantastic event with fabulous stages.