A FIERCE battle across 13 stages in Exmoor forests ended with Rhuddlan’s Luke Francis and John H Roberts taking a start to finish victory at the Somerset Stages Rally on Saturday.

The Mitsubishi E9 pilot headed to the Minehead-based event after a recent Rally North Wales victory and stamped his mark firmly on the top step of the podium ash he won by eight seconds from pre-event favourites Charlie Payne and Carl Williamson.

Over 130 crews from across the UK took part in the event, organised jointly by Minehead and Burnham-on-Sea Motor Clubs.

It formed the third round of the Ravenol BTRDA Rally Series and Maxxis Tyres MSA English Rally Championship.

The battle for third place saw Peter Stephenson and Giles Dykes set an impressive early pace in their Ford Focus WRC on the opening two stages, but the Subaru Impreza crew of Karl and Guy Simmons took stage three and stayed in third for the rest of the day.

Fourth place went to Taunton crew Martyn and Dawn England, who debuted their new Ford Fiesta R5+ on gravel at the event.

Trying hard to acclimatise, the husband and wife team increased their pace throughout the day and showed how at home they were on asphalt by setting the fastest overall stage time on the first Porlock Hill test.

Gavin Edwards and Caron Tomlinson continued their fine form in the BTRDA series to take the two-wheel drive and Silver Star honours in their Ford Escort MK2.

Another rapid local, Julian Wilkes from Taunton, was the leading 1400cc contender in his Vauxhall Nova with Will Rutherford Child alongside as they finished 16th overall.

This year’s event was particularly tough on crews and only 84 completed the route, which wound its way through forest stages in Croydon, Chargot and Knowle.

It also involved a major re-route due to tbad weather in recent months, but the small and dedicated team pulled out all the stops to ensure the rally, one of only a handful left in England, took place.

“It’s been a really challenging event to organise this year and it’s thanks to all the hard work, dedication and many late nights from everyone in the organising committee and supporting motor clubs, that we could run a successful event once again” said clerk of the course Jason Hayes.

“After winning the BTRDA Rally of the Year in 2015, we knew we had all the ingredients for a good event, and I have to say thank you to the Beach Hotel, Minehead Town Council, West Somerset Council, Exmoor National Park, Avon and Somerset Police, the Forestry Commission, the Crown Estate and Somerset County Council for all their help once again.

“We look forward to seeing you all again next year.”