Picture: Business Edictor, Ron Godfrey

snowed under by entries for Supershare '98. Just when you thought they were out of it, gone, finished, over, kaput - the Fennings are back with a vengeance.

Sonja Fenning, the overall Supershare champion in 1992, becomes the daily victor, earning £50 from sponsors Walsh Lucas and Company, the independent financial advisers of Micklegate, York.

What is more her husband, Ian, has taken both third and fourth place, literally sandwiching 17-year-old sixth form student Matthew Wilson, of Sutor Close, Copmanthorpe who remains runner up for the second day.

Poor David Clay, of Copmanthorpe, the bank inspector turned head chef was blasted off his winner's perch, tumbling to 16th place.

Sonja, a 36-year-old assistant librarian at the JB Morell Library at the University of York lives with Ian in Sussex Road, Badger Hill. Both are well known to Supershare entrants.

The Fennings were among the first to buy copies of the Evening Press in bulk - around 100 - five years ago. Some cried "foul!" at the time but it was perfectly within the rules. Now there are entrants who rival the Fennings for numbers but clearly not for quality.

Earlier this month the Fennings, who again bought around 100 copies of the Evening Press, had as many as 18 portfolios in the Top 100, and five of the Top Ten belonged to them, although the number one slot eluded them.

Then suddenly the market twitched and the following day there was but one lone Fenning entry in the Supershare Top 100. If anyone cheered then it was too soon.

As the Stock Exchange blasted upwards for the second post-Budget day running, ending at record levels yesterday the Fennings flooded back in with 10 in the Top 100 and Sonja firmly in that top place. She had four successful entries, Ian had six.

Sonja said: "There were a few wipeouts but we've remained hopeful.

"I'm really pleased. There will be some super sharing out of the winnings with our children Samantha who is 12, and Andrea, nine.

"I don't know if I've peaked too early to stay in the running at the end of the month for the final overall prize of £2,000 or the £1,000 investments second prize. It's too early to tell!"

Her winning portfolio was Asda (£500) British Telecom (£4,000), Kingfisher (£500) and Spring Ram (£5,000). The combination transformed her fantasy £10,000 stake into £11,640.56.

Ian, a systems analyst with General Accident in York, insists that their success is more tail-on-the-donkey luck than judgement. "It's a lovely surprise," he says, "But we have about as much chance of winning at the end of the month as anyone else."

It is an observation worth acting upon. So buy your Evening Press for an entry form NOW.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.