TORFAEN driver Dylan Fowler-Bishop squeezed to a two-second class win in the season-opening Malcolm Wilson Rally in the Lake District, denying two-time BTRDA Bronze Star champions Nigel and Karen Jenkins from the Forest of Dean by the tightest of margins, reports PAUL WILLETTS.

The beautiful Lake District market town of Cockermouth played host again to the rally, which attracted a top quality entry of 130 cars, its best for many years.

The format followed its usual line of stages, opening in the Lake District with Hobcarton, Comb and Wythop, followed by two stages in Greystoke and two in the notoriously difficult Grizedale complex, where most of the mileage was.

The Forest duo opened up a narrow seven-second lead over Cwmbran rival Fowler-Bishop alongside Herefordshire co-driver Dan Evans in the Micra, with a similar car of Ashley Francis and Mark Ammonds not far behind.

Into the afternoon the battle raged fiercely with the top two swapping times, and the South Walian sneaking a four-second advantage going into the final Greystoke test.

The Jenkins’ NJ Autos Vauxhall Nova then flew through the final stage to set the fastest 1400 time, but only shaved two seconds from Fowler-Bishop and Evans, who celebrated class victory in 34th overall.

Another crew in the silverware was the Forest of Dean’s Geoff Phelps who had Clive Jones standing in for the unavailable Colin Jenkins in the Hartpury Farms-backed Escort RS1800, who had an excellent run to take a class win and 45th overall.

Ross-on-Wye co-driver Kevin Lane helped Ed James to 81st overall and sixth in class in the immaculate wide-tracked Nissan Micra Kit car.

At the head of field, two British Rally Championship front runners did battle and it was Scottish duo Garry Pearson and Hannah McKillop who took a one-second win from Welsh driver Merion Evans and Dale Furniss in the Castrol-backed Toyota Yaris Rally 2.

The championship resumes in May with the fabulous Border Counties stages in the Scottish Borders.