WITH just 13 finishers from 60 starters, anyone who got to the end of the Witch Way Road Rally could rightly count themselves as winners.

With only a limited amount of time to plot the complex, a 130-mile long route, which started and finished in East Lancashire, the skill of both driver and navigator was tested to the full.

By the time dawn broke, Morecambe's Simon Harrison and Paul Holmberg were declared the victors in their Ford Escort, a massive 10 minutes clear of the Subaru Impreza of Steve Webster and Roger Hage.

Third went to Mini men Pete Tyson and Neil Harrison, a further seven minutes behind.

But the long list of retirements, which included the entire novice class, started with 2002 winners Chris Day and Ric Chalmers, who called it a day after 30 miles when the engine on their Mini began consuming oil faster than petrol.

Last year's winners Brynli Thomas and Steve Herbert were expected to be one of the front-runners, but headed back to Wales early after their Subaru Impreza failed a noise check at the half-way point.

Of the East Lancashire competitors only three made it to the finish at the Anchor Inn at Gargrave, with Mike East/ Roger Davidson and Bill Chadwick /lan Edwards, from organising club Pendle DMC, and Hoghton's Chris Astley/Stephen Coombes coming home 10th, 12th and 13th places respectively.

Although Astley's Vauxhall Nova ran out of petrol near from the end, he was still able to coast to the final time control and claim the final position.

The notoriously rough Oxenhope white claimed several victims, including Simon Daly, from Clitheroe DMC, and Iain Tullie.

Their MG Maestro suffered a holed radiator, while Paul Schatz and Jerry Hettrick punctured the fuel tank of their Peugeot 205GTi on the same stretch of road.

Damian Whittle and Irvine Holtom survived Oxenhope only to fall foul of the next 'white' immediately afterwards, when a damaged gear linkage put them five minutes over the time limit allowed.

Blackburn's Terry Martin and Paul Taylor also missed the classification after going OTL at the second time card.

A full list of results are available on Pendle and district motor club's website: www.pendledmc.co.uk.