HEREFORDSHIRE Motor Club’s Theo Bengry raced to victory in the historic section at the Team GMF Wyedean Forest Rally.

Bengry and co-driver Les Forsbrook finished a respectable 12th overall.

The pair also won Class E5 in their Ford Escort MK2 at Saturday’s action-packed event, which was also the BTRDA Rally Championship first round.

Roger Matthews, from St Weonards, teamed up with hs new co-driver Paul Morris to finish 18th overall and third in the historic class.

“The conditions were very slippery - a lot of logging has been going on in the Forest,” said Matthews.

“There were the most incidents and accidents they have ever had at the Wyedean.”

More than 40 per cent of the drivers who started the race failed to finish.

Matthews said his vehicle got through 10 new tyres and hewas pleased to finish in a high position.

“When the gearbox started to play up I didn’t think we were going to finish,” said Matthews.

“We arrived back for the second half of the rally with only four of the five gears working.

“Five seconds would have moved us up four places.”

Meanwhile, Hereford’s Mike Nobles and Claire Williams were 27th overall in their Subaru Imprezza. And another Herefordshire crew, Ken Davies and Alan Jones, competed in their Volvo Amazon 12, and finished 73rd overall.

Irish duo Connor McCloskey and co-driver Francis Regan took the overall main prize on their maiden Wyedean Forest Rally.

Meanwhile, Herefordshire race ace Roger Chilman is taking a step back this year. He bought a new Subaru WRC S9 for an all-out tilt at last year’s BTRDA Championship.

“I had a big accident on the Cambrian so I’m taking the opportunity for a comprehensive rebuild,” said Chilman. He added: “I may do later BTRDA events but haven’t really decided. These big rebuilds take time.”

Reigning BTRDA champion and 2012 Wyedean runner-up Shaun Gardener, from Ludlow, also didn’t compete in last weekend’s opener.

“The car is being gutted so I think we shall just play about this year and come back strong in 2014,” said Gardener, a former Herefordshire Motor Club member.