TERRY Martin did his hopes of winning the SD34 Championship a power of good by claiming maximum points on the St Wilfrid's road rally.

After winning two events back-to-back, Martin and navigator Jerry Hettrick had to be content with ninth place on the Ripon MSC-organised event.

But with no SD34 contenders finishing ahead of him, the Blackburn driver now has a slender one-point series lead.

Victory on the Countdown and Morecambe rallies made the Peugeot pair one of the favourites to win the St Wilfrid's, which comprised 150 miles in North Yorkshire.

But throttle linkage problems in the first half cost them over a minute, which was exactly the amount of time covering the first ten cars at the petrol halt.

A puncture in the second half cost more time, dropping them from fifth place to ninth at the finish, although Martin was still happy with his result.

He said: "The pace was frenetic at the front of the field, and the slightest mistake or problem was costly.

"But I've no complaints, it was a great event, well-organised and with a lot of very good drivers competing."

Steve Retchless made a return in a freshly-built Ford Escort RS2000, taking an early lead.

Guy Robinson/Charles Wheeldon were three seconds back in their Subaru Impreza, while Dan Willan/Paul Allen held third on 12 seconds.

Unfortunately, their good drive was to come to an end when their Vauxhall Astra lost 3rd gear and they decided to head for home while the car was still driveable.

Retchless and navigator John Turbman continued their stunning pace to drop just 1min 3 secs on their way to victory.

The penultimate round of the championship is Pendle DMC's new Ribble Valley Trophy, which takes place on September 16-17.