Mark Perrot, driving his ex-works Escort WRC won the Riponian Rally yesterday after a close fight with last year's winner Charlie Payne, from Ripon, in his Mitsubishi Lancer.

Going into the final two stages at Lightwater Valley Theme Park the two were tied on penalties with only six miles left to sort out a result.

The pressure told on Payne, however, and he crashed the Lancer on the last stage, losing a wheel in the process.

Payne drove the car to the finish control on three wheels and managed to salvage second place, losing to Perrot, from Hereford, by 45 seconds.

Kevin Proctor, from Northalerton, driving his Sierra Cosworth was third, a further 26 seconds back.

The tracks in Lightwater and in the forests round Helmsley were very slippery and only 45 of the 75 starters were classified as finishers in the Ripon Land Rover sponsored event.

Other notable performances came from Dave Wood, Impreza, in fourth place, the international pairing of South Otterington's Steve Smith and Italian Marco Ercole in their Lancia, in fifth place, and Tony Davies from South Wales in his MG 6R4.

Leading overall positions:

1 Mark Perrot/Garry Mansell Escort WRC 50:44; 2 Charlie Payne/Craig Thorley Mitsubishi Lancer 51:29; 3 Kevin Proctor/David Bellerby Sierra Cosworth 51:55; 4 Dave Wood/Les Waterfall Subaru Impreza 51:59; 5 Steve Smith/Marco Ercole Lancia Evolution 54:16; 6 Tony Davies/Jim Kitson MG Metro 6R4 54:17; 7 Chris Bown/Roger Bown Mitsubishi Lancer 55:35; 8 Andrew Johnson/Neil Colls Subaru Impreza 55:43; 9 Charlie Taylor/Murray Foster Ford Escort 56:05; 10 Ian Rudd/Steve Bielby Sierra Cosworth 56:08.

Class winners - Class A up to 1300: Mark Simpson, Malton, Nissan Micra. Class B up to 1600: Jonathon Kitching, Ripon, Ford Escort. Class C over 1600: Charlie Taylor, Northallerton, Ford Escort. Class D - 4WD: Dave Wood, Derby, Subaru Inpreza.

Updated: 11:57 Monday, February 04, 2002