STEVE Petch's domination of the Kall Kwik National Rally continued last Sunday when he won his fourth title in five years in the Pickering-based event, which also saw success for Ryedale driver Alan Richardson.

Petch, who represents Durham Motor Club, made it three straight wins in the North Yorkshire forests in his Hyundai Accent WRC, alongside Northallerton Motor Club member John Richardson. The pair crossed the finish line in Pickering Market Place in 52 mins 24 secs, eight seconds clear of Ripon's Charlie Payne and Whitby's Craig Thorley. The highest Malton Motor Club finishers were John Bannister and Graham Wilcock, who came tenth in a Ford Sapphire Cosworth in 57:03.

Pickering's Alan Richardson claimed his second successive class victory in the De Lacy Motor Club-organised event, winning class one in his 1300cc Vauxhall Nova with Chris Roe. Richardson won the 1400cc and under category by a minute and 22 seconds despite having a lower engine size than some competitors.

A delighted Richardson said: "The organisers raised our class to 1400cc from 1300cc this year, so we thought we'd struggle to win. We had some problems with the car last week and we'd not even tested it before the race, so we were a bit unsure how things would go. But we attacked early and were 52 seconds up after the first stage. In the end, it was a brilliant day, the service boys worked well and I was delighted with how it went."

The win also meant Richardson, who finished 35th overall, picked up vital points in the Kent Cams Northern ANCC Stage Rally Championship. His next race is in the North Humberside Forest Rally at the end of March.

Pickering's Steve Magson was happy with his second place in class four. Magson, who has entered the clubman section of the Kumho Tyres National Rally Championship, and co-driver Geoff Atkinson finished 20th overall. Magson said: "I was happy with the performance and can't complain. It was very slippery, we had a few hair-raising moments and we had a mis-fire on the last stage but it was a good result."

Things didn't go quite so well for Scackleton farmer Paul Daniel, who crashed his new Ford Escort MK II into some logs while pushing too hard on the third stage. The subsequent damage to the driver's side wing and steering arm meant Daniel had to settle for sixth in his class in the event and third in class in the Kumho championship. But the 33-year-old should have his car ready for the next Kumho event on April 2 in Wales.

Updated: 10:03 Wednesday, February 19, 2003