IT was fitting that rallyman John Stone should celebrate his first-ever victory with a beer.

For the Blackburn businessman had just won the Mild and Bitter Stages, and the result put the brakes on a demoralising run of retirements.

Stone had finished just one event so far season, with his fragile four-wheel-drive, turbocharged Metro 6R4 suffering a series of mechanical breakdowns.

But Sunday's event at Haverigg airfield in Cumbria saw the reigning ANWCC novice champion fulfil his ambition of claiming an outright victory.

"At last, we've done it - and I'm delighted," said Stone, whose previous best result was sixth overall on the 2001 December Stages. Gale force winds and lashing rain made the conditions horrendous, and although we led from start to finish, we still had to overcome all sorts of problems throughout the day.

"The car suffered a broken driveshaft, then two gear selector casings broke, and to cap it all, we lost some time avoiding a herd of sheep and a cow which strayed onto the stage!"

But after 12 stages and 40 miles, it was Stone and co-driver Kevin Hodkinson, also from Blackburn, who ran out deserved winners, finishing over two minutes ahead of tarmac experts David Shuttleworth and Steven Pirie in a Mitsubishi Evo 6.

He added: "It's been a long and costly season so far. We damaged our engine on the North West Stages in February, forcing us to buy a brand new unit.

"However, something went wrong with that on a sprint event and we had to borrow a very tired engine to do the Torque-BAC Stages last month.

"Although we weren't able to challenge for the lead because the engine wasn't up to it, we still managed to finish seventh and bag some much-needed points for the ANWCC Championship.

"Our problems returned on the Proflex Stages two weeks ago, when we were forced to retire with a broken gear selector whilst lying in the top five.

"But I'm hoping that this is the turnaround in our fortunes that we have been looking for."

And the pair will be looking to capitalise on their new-found success - they are contesting this weekend's Weeton Camp Stages in Blackpool.

Result: 1: John Stone/Kevin Hodkinson (Metro 6R4) 54m 42s; 2: David Shuttleworth/Steven Pirie (Mitsubishi Evo) 56m 53s; 3: Paul Fry/Mike Steel (Mitsubishi Evo) 57m 52s.