DESPITE the wintry conditions which threatened the event once again, Hornby driver Anth Eaton stormed to his second victory in four years on the Food Weighouse Christmas Stages Rally last weekend.

Driving the Autotest Ford Escort Cosworth and partnered by brother-in-law Jeff Talbot of Yarm, he fended off a number of challenges on a day of high drama on the military ranges of Catterick Camp.

Eaton landed the win by exactly a minute from the Nissan Sunny Gti-R of Scotch Corner's Tony Bardy and his co-driver, Tony Walker of Barnard Castle.

A total of 63 cars took to the start on a cold but thankfully snow-free day and it was the Lancia of Northallerton's Steve and Ben Smith who set the early pace on the opening 11-mile Foxglove stage. They were just a couple of seconds ahead of Bedale crew Bryan Gill and Jonathan Bean in their Escort Cosworth, with Eaton third fastest a further ten seconds down.

Into first service and already the rally had claimed pre-event favourite, Nottingham's Dave Wood, who had taken a wheel off his Subaru late in the stage. Saltburn brothers Ian and Neil Colman also retired their Nissan after a big off.

Gill, in his first rally for nearly a year, stormed through Gandale 1 a second clear of last year's winners, Charlie Payne and Craig Thorley from Ripon in their Mitsubishi, to snatch the lead from Smith, who had acquired a dubious road penalty on exiting service.

But Gandale saw the end of the challenge of Pagid Escort Cosworth driver Paul Lawson from Hunton and his co-driver Andrew Stephenson from Scorton, who rolled heavily on the stage. Crakehall's Richard Welford and his Baldersby co-driver Jonathan Carver also encountered electrical problems on their Beavers Peugeot, which led to retirement on the same stage.

Payne clawed back four seconds from Gill on Coalpit 1, but at second service it was Gill who led by 17 seconds from Payne, with Eaton a further eight seconds back in third. The SGP Motorsport Subaru of Paul Bird - in only his fourth ever rally - lay in fourth just 12 seconds behind Eaton, with the Bedale crews of Kevin Procter and Mark Lawson (Sapphire Cosworth) and Glen Workman and Paul Hudson rounding off the top six.

As the event entered Foxglove for a second time, the drama started to unfold. Firstly, Gill's car started misfiring and he dropped nearly a minute with engine problems. Then Eaton's car suffered a broken engine mounting, but managed to continue, while 1998 winner Procter suffered a similar fate but had to retire.

Workman had a spectacular off and took a stage maximum which effectively ended his challenge and Payne reported a loss of turbo boost. Eaton took maximum advantage and set fastest time on the stage, some 18 seconds quicker than the struggling Payne, with former Rallycross ace Tony Bardy - having now fixed his problems with the brakes - third.

If stage four had been dramatic, more was to follow as the cars headed out for the final leg and another visit to Gandale, which saw both Charlie Payne and Steve Smith retire. Payne clouted a rock and broke a wheel on his MSR Lancer while Smith suffered transmission failure in the Walkers Delta Integrale.

Gill, who had fitted new fuel injectors at service to try to cure the problems on his John Gill Escort, pulled back five seconds on Eaton who was now nursing his car home, while Ducati Superbike team boss Bird from Penrith and Bardy disputed third place.

On to the penultimate stage in Coalpit and Eaton made the run for home by setting fastest time just one second up on Bardy, with Pickhill's Matt Yeadon third fastest in his DSM Lancer. Gill dropped three seconds to Eaton, but the signs were ominous for him as the Escort was starting to smoke and use a lot of oil.

The frost was starting to take effect as the cars entered the final nine-mile Deep Gill stage and once again it was to prove Gill's Waterloo. For the fourth time on the event after leading, he exited when the engine blew just three miles from the finish.

Eaton consolidated his win by setting fastest time just one second ahead of event sponsor Chris Lewis from Exelby who, along with his Northallerton co-driver John Richardson, was making his traditional late charge in the Food Weighouse Mitsubishi. Third on the final stage was a charging Yeadon and his Boltby co-driver Did Shores, ahead of Bardy, who suffered a spin, and Bird, who lost time after being badly baulked by another competitor.

With Gill's demise, Eaton won comfortably by a minute from Bardy, with Bird just nine seconds down in an incredible third overall. Fourth place went to Lewis, who also claimed the Group N class, while Yeadon took fifth and another SGP Subaru, driven by Durham's Tony Thompson, completed the top six.

In the class battles, 1400cc honours went to Richmond brothers Mark and Andrew Constantine, who also claimed a brilliant 11th overall in their Nova, while Northallerton's Charlie Taylor and Murray Foster posted 12th place on the way to winning class 4 in their Mark 2 Escort.

Thirsk builder Ian Rudd finished 13th in his Sapphire with the Middleham crew of Stuart and John Adamson overcoming a broken differential on the final stage to finish second in class and 15th overall.

Other local finishers included Steven Lawson and Glyn Jackson from Leyburn, who recorded 20th overall and took the Novice award in their Sunbeam, while their fellow Leyburn team of Andrew Holmes and Colin Stockhill finished 24th (fourth in class) in their Ford Escort.

Glen Workman from Leeming and his Darlington co-driver Paul Hudson overcame their problems to land 26th place, while Steve Williams and Terry Wright from Great Langton drove well to finish 32nd (third in class) in their Metro. Four places in front of Williams was the Darlington crew of Dave Cox and Terry Searle in their Rover.

Results: 1 A Eaton/J Talbot (Hornby), Ford Escort Cosworth, 51:04; 2 T Bardy/T Walker (Scotch Corner), Nissan Sunny Gti-R, 52:04; 3 P Bird/L Carter (Penrith), Subaru Impreza, 52:13; 4 C Lewis/J Richardson (Exelby), Mitsubishi Lancer E6, 52:44; 5 M Yeadon/R Shores (Pickhill), M Lancer E3, 52:50; 6 T Thompson/R Myers (Ingleton), S Impreza, 53:36; 7 M Glendinning/D Thompson (Northumberland), S Impreza, 53:49; 8 A Kenny/G Kenny (Telford), M Lancer E4, 54:16; 9 A Apperley/D Hammond (Wakefield), F Escort Cosworth, 54:36; 10 C Tuer/R Tuer (Northumberland), Vauxhall Astra, 54:39.

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