* Three class stage wins, seventh overall, third in Group N  * Maintains second in Production Cup  * 7-point difference, 25-point improvement possible over last two rounds A determined performance by Tom Cave on this weekend's Nicky Grist Quinton Stages Rally saw the 19 year-old bag a useful haul of points in his Production Cup campaign. He and co-driver Craig Parry overcame weather and mechanical issues to finish the event seventh overall and third in Group N, to hold second in the points table with two rounds to go.  This weekend's event used stages forming part of the UK round of the FIA World Rally Championship, including the Crychan and Monument tests, many of which Tom knows well from his three outings on the world event.  He and Craig began well, right on the Group N pace, taking the class stage win on the second test of the day. However, the third and fourth stages of the event would cause some problems.  Tom had elected to tackle the first loop on a set of hard compound tyres, as he knew the stages were abrasive and would likely cut up with the cars running ahead on the road. While this strategy worked well on the two opening stages, rain on the third and fourth tests meant that he dropped time as the tyres struggled to find grip.  He had also clipped a bridge on the preceding test and this had bent the steering arm, which meant the car pulled heavily to the left under braking, making it unpredictable into the slower corners.  By the time he and Craig returned to service after the first four stages, the Davies Motorsport technicians were ready to change the steering arm and get the car fully back on the pace.  Tom pushed hard for the remainder of the event to get back some of the time lost through the rain and on the first of the afternoon's four stages, took the class win, repeating that feat on the penultimate stage of the rally.  Heading into the last stage, he was one second off second in class and a further eight seconds off the lead, so had everything to play for. He pushed hard all the way through the last 5.5mile test but was unable to improve his position, so settled for third and with it, a useful collection of points towards the championship.  Commenting at the end of the event, Tom said: "This was a good day. I was hoping that we'd be able to snatch second place on the final stage but it didn't go our way. However, I'm more than happy with third and the points that come with that, particularly when you consider that our Subaru is at least five years older than much of the competition. "It wasn't an easy run though, that's for sure. I went for the safe option on the tyres for the first loop and was praying that it wouldn't rain. Sadly, it did and we lost quite a lot of time as a result.  "We also clipped a bridge on the second stage and bent the steering arm, which meant the car was really unpredictable on the brakes but the boys got that fixed no problem. It also didn't help that we had completely the wrong springs on the car; they were too hard, which meant that while it was very stable on the fast sections, like Route 60, it was really hard to drive in the tighter and twisty parts.  "But overall, I'm really pleased we managed to claim some decent points for the championship. We're second at the moment, seven points behind Jamie [Anderson] but with five out of eight scores counting, we're into dropped scores now. We can potentially gain 25 points on the next two events whereas he can only improve by 12, so it means the last two rounds are going to be very interesting." The next round of the BTRDA championship is the Woodpecker Stages on 3 September but before that, Tom has two more outings, starting with this weekend on the Swansea Bay Rally, the next round of the Welsh Championship. The following weekend, 23 July, he will be defending his first outright event win, on the Coracle Stages and will drive the Subaru on both events.  However, for these two rallies, the car will be converted from N4 to B13 specification to improve its competitiveness against younger machinery. This essentially allows a larger restrictor in the turbocharger inlet, meaning the engine produces more torque and hence, better performance.