North Yorkshire pairing Jonny Milner and Ian Windress made it two wins in a row after triumphing on the third round of the 2010 MSA Gravel Rally Championship, narrowly beating Towcester duo Roger Duckworth and Mark Broomfield to the win after seven stages of hot and dusty action on some of Wales' finest forest stages.

From the Builth Wells start of the Severn Valley National Rally, former ANCRO champion Duckworth was fastest out of the blocks, anxious to make amends for his indiscretion on the recent Pirelli Tour of Cumbria when he crashed out in his Subaru Impreza WRC. Milner, from Driffield and co driver Windress from Northallerton, could only manage third fastest through the opening stage in Cefn in their Toyota Corolla WRC, pipped by both Duckworth and Ripon driver Charlie Payne and York co driver Craig Thorley in the Focus WRC.

Milner then clawed back the advantage on the second stage in Crychan as the following field struggled with visibility in the hanging dust. Payne was second fastest again but then undid all of his good work by spinning backwards into a bank in the third test, Halfway, dislodging the rear bumper and ended the stage with the offending item resting on a hot exhaust and on fire.

By first service, Milner held a slender four second lead over Duckworth, the two rivals having taken a pair of stage wins apiece, and during service the main talking point was tyres as all crews reported excessive wear in the hot conditions.

Bury driver Tom Naughton had experienced a frightening off in the opening stage, crashing head first into a tree and causing the stage to be halted. Fortunately both Tom and co driver Horace Saville were unhurt but this allowed Wug Utting from Gatwick and Tatsfield co driver Bob Stokoe a clear run and the pair returned to service with a four second advantage over Alex Allingham (Stalybridge) and Mark Glennerster (Wanborough) in their Subaru.

The 15 miles of Radnor comprised SS5 and saw Milner and Duckworth separated by a mere 0.2 of a second as third fastest on the stage was Stephen Petch (Hamsterley) and Bedale co driver John Richardson in their Hyundai Accent WRC. At the same time a rapid run from Allingham, coupled with Utting being stuck behind a stricken Jamie Anderson (Ellistown) and Mark Mason (Tyneside), saw the reigning BTRDA Production Class Champion regain the Group N lead. This stage also saw the demise of Headley driver Nigel Seabold and co driver Tim Barton from Epsom as the pair rolled their brand new Subaru Impreza N2010 into retirement.

The final two stages were re-runs of the first two of the day and saw Duckworth and Milner resume their battle. Whilst Duckworth was 0.6 of a second faster on the penultimate stage, Milner attacked hard through Crychan to take seven seconds back from the Subaru driver and returned to Builth Wells with a narrow victory margin of just 10.9 seconds to record his second maximum score in a row.

"What a fantastic day! Radnor was brilliant and in really good condition. Roger and I had a cracking battle all day long and to come out on top is the best way to end such an event" said Milner at the finish.

A frantic final stage saw Charlie Payne finally come to grips with his Ford Focus WRC and he did enough to move from fifth to third on the final stage, taking the final podium position by seven seconds from Stephen Petch.

Just behind the Proton of Tom Cave and Ieuan Thomas, Alex Allingham ensured that he took his first ever MSA Gravel Rally Championship Production Class victory with a pair of rapid times over the final two stages, doing enough to take maximum points by a comfortable 42 seconds from Wug Uttings similar Subaru Impreza.

Paul James (Wellington) and co driver Derek Davies (Bishopton) took their Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 to eighth overall, one place ahead of the Hyundai Accent WRC of Peter Egerton and Jamie Edwards whereas Tony Macwhirter and Steve Green in their Mitsubishi edged out the unfortunate Jamie Anderson for the final top ten placing.

The Viking Escort Challenge saw Chris Wigmore (Bicester) and co driver Steve Lyons (Brackley) overcome a broken clutch cable to go fastest over all seven stages, finishing 13th overall and some three minutes ahead of Robert Cholmondeley (Barnt Green) and Dave Evans (Leeds) in their similar Ford Escort MkII.

Retirements included Trevor Martin/Ray Cleghorn (Subaru Impreza) with an oil leak as SS3 claimed both Sara Williams/Dai Roberts (Subaru) and Kevin Rowledge/Paul Whittaker (Mitsubishi) and Nigel Seabold/Tim Barton (Subaru) stopped after SS5.

Severn Valley National Rally - Result (Provisional)

1, Jonny Milner/Ian Windress - Toyota Corolla WRC - 1:00:59.8 2, Roger Duckworth/Mark Broomfield - Subaru Impreza - 1:01:10.7 3, Charlie Payne/Craig Thorley - Ford Focus WRC 06 - 1:02:44.3 4, Stephen Petch/John Richardson - Hyundai Accent WRC - 1:02:45.7 5, Tom Cave/Ieuan Thomas - Proton Satria Neo - 1:02:50.1 6, Alex Allingham/Mark Glennerster - Subaru Impreza - 1:03:57.9 7, Wug Utting/Bob Stokoe - Subaru Impreza - 1:04:40.1 8, Paul James/Derek Davies - Mitsubishi Evo 9 - 1:06:44.2 9, Peter Egerton/Jamie Edwards - Hyundai Accent WRC - 1:07:19.9 10, Tony MacWhirter/Steve Green - Mitsubishi Evo 7 - 1:07:48.2

Championship Standings after Round 3 (Provisional)

1, Jonny Milner - 68pts2, Stephen Petch - 58pts 3, Charlie Payne - 46pts4, Roger Duckworth - 43pts 5, Alex Allingham - 33pts 6, Wug Utting - 21pts7, Marcus Dodd - 25pts8, Paul James - 24pts9, Steve Perez - 22pts10, Kevin Rowledge - 21pts=, Jamie Anderson - 21pts