CARNFORTH'S Steve Head overcame three punctures and a damaged suspension to record his third straight 1600cc rally win in Scotland at the weekend.

Head, 25, and his co-driver Andrew Dugdale lead the race from start to finish, and ended the race just 20 seconds behind the leaders from the more powerful two litre cars.

"With no servicing permitted we were forced to do the final stage with the damaged suspension," explained Dugdale: "We had already built up a one and a half minute lead and decided to back off and preserve the car for day two."

And paranoia gripped the team as their crippled car made its way back to rally headquarters in the centre of Dumfries.

Head added: "In this situation, you start to hear all sorts of rattles on the car, but this time there was a very distinctive rattle coming from the engine.

"As we waited at a set of traffic lights within sight of the finish ramp it suddenly became very violent.

"There was a sudden crunch so I stopped the engine and jumped out to have a look. Fortunately, it was the power steering pulley which had sheered off its bearing and I was able to drive the car without power steering, but at that stage we were so close I think we would have pushed the car over the finish ramp."

The pair now move on to the Jim Clark memorial rally on July 1 and 2.