CALLUM Black and co-driver Jack Morton retained their Protyre Asphalt Rally Championship in style with a dominant Hills Ford Stages victory in their Ford Fiesta Rally 2 from Championship rivals Neil Roskell and Dai Roberts in the ND Civils Fiesta Rally 2, reports PAUL WILLETTS.

Third in the Much Marcle and Ledbury-based rally went the way of Steve Wood and Kenny Hull in a Citroën C3 R5.

The new two-day format proved popular, with the 140 crews parading through a packed Ledbury town centre on Saturday afternoon before the opening two tests over a short Castlemorton stage, watched by big crowds in the sunshine.

Sunday dawned cloudy but dry for a further ten stages covering 63 miles in the lanes of Herefordshire, Gloucestershire and Worcestershire.

It was a difficult start for Black in Saturday’s short opening tests, lying 59th overnight after some issues.

But from first thing Sunday morning he set fastest times on every stage, showing his class to take victory from Roskell by one minute 20 seconds, with Wood just three seconds back in third.

Last year's winner Mark Kelly was leading until stage 6 when he retired the Kelmore-backed Skoda Fabia R5

Event sponsor Will Hill also held eighth overnight, but unfortunately left the road on the morning's opening test, breaking the rear suspension of his Hills Ford Fiesta Rally 2, his race over despite doing the final loop stages after repairs.

Of the locals it was Coleford's Nik Elsmore and Pauline Nash in the CDS Taxis & Calico Interiors Mitsubishi Evo 9 who took the honours with 16th overall and third in class, improving every stage with a good consistent run.

Ben Friend with regular Monmouth co-driver Cliffy Simmons took the historic honours in the Allglass Anglia Escort RS1800, but it came down to the last nine-mile Marcle Hill test after trailing Barry Stevenson-Wheeler in a similar car by a second, with a final push taking the class by 19 seconds from the Leicester driver.

Event sponsor Tim Hill with fellow veteran Paul Spooner co-driving in the Hills Ford Fiesta Rally 3 – usually driven by Tim's son Will – came home 29th and fifth in class.

Justin Brooks and Dan Evans finished 47th and third in class in the immaculate Vauxhall Nova on a rare outing behind the wheel for the experienced co-driver.

Newent's Geoff Phelps and Colin Jenkins switched to the beautiful Hartpury Farms Mk1 Escort and took 48th and fourth in class on the driver's local roads.

Steve Chaplin with Forresters Car Club's Rich Suter on the notes took a solid 51st and fifth in class in the Dave Jenkins Motorsport Escort RS1800.

And it's been a busy few weeks for Alan Marriage and Ross Motor Club's Kevin Lane fresh from the Rali Bae Ceredigion, finishing 60th and seventh in class in the Brambourne-backed RS1800.

Kilcot garage owner Jeremy Harris and daughter Alexandra in the hotseat had an excellent run to 66th and 9th in class in the Escort Mexico.

And Ross father and daughter Paul and Jemma Taylor had a trouble free run to 85th and fourth in class in the Historic Mini.

Returning to rallying after 34 years were Richard Thomas and Paul Cook, who throughly enjoyed it taking 89th and second in class in his former road rally Escort.

Andrew Price with Adam Jones debuting the Ledbury-based AndyLandy modern Mini Cooper took 90th and 11th in class.

And the route actually went past Price's home, which was certainly local knowledge.

A total of 106 cars made the finish back at Much Marcle Showground after a tough day's rallying.

Retirements included Brad Cole with Abergavenny's Jamie Vaughan in the 2.5 Escort, and Tim Phelps and Ross RC's Matt Rogers' Escort RS1800.

The event is worthy of its Protyre Asphalt Rally Championship status, but the biggest thank you must go to Hills Ford, the local authorities and the residents who embrace the event, which brings a huge amount of revenue to the locality.