STEVE Head (Carnforth) and Andrew Dugdale (Penrith) showed the rallying world they have the full potential of future rally stars when they took a convincing win on last weekend's Malcolm Wilson Rally, the second successive outright victory for the pair.

After almost a 12 month layoff, largely due to the Foot and Mouth crisis, The TeamPenguin.co.uk duo continued their reign at the top of British Rallying. The organisers of the Cockermouth based Malcolm Wilson Rally were one of the first to be affected when Foot and Mouth caused the postponement of the March event. But the perseverance of the organisers, DEFRA and the local community, meant that a first class event was able to take place last weekend.

Over 100 crews converged on the Cockermouth based "port, headquarters to the Ford World Rally Championship team, on Friday night. The action got under way on Saturday morning and it didn't take log for Head to stamp his authority on the field, which included several World Rally Cars. Previous winners of the rally include Alistair McRae and Malcolm Wilson.

"We took it steady in the first stage", explained a calm Head. "That was the first time I've driven the ADR prepared Teng Tools Evo6 in competition. The most important thing was to get through the first stage in one piece and then look to see how competitive we are. The Michelin tyres worked well and I know how much I can push the car and stay safe". Only seconds off the fastest times in stage one, Head was feeling comfortable with the car and knew there was more to come. Head immediately went on to set the fastest time on the second stage, taking the lead of the rally in the process. "Everything is going to plan", admitted Dugdale at the service area after stage three. "We have taken a slender lead and will be looking to extend that on the next two stages in Grizedale", he continued. Grizedale was the scene of the maiden victory for the pair last December and understandably, confidence in the car was high.

Head gave a perfect demonstration through the Grizedale stages, extending his lead by a massive 24 seconds. The 2000 Roger Clark Award finalist clearly showing the kind of commitment and outright speed the award judges had been looking for. On return to the Keswick service area, Head and Dugdale lead by 33 seconds and with just 13 competitive stage miles remaining a win looked in the bag. "Thirteen miles is a lot of corners and there is still plenty of opportunity for mistakes", said a cautious Dugdale at service. "We won't stop concentrating till we cross the finish line." Head added, "I'll be trying extra hard. I want to be the first driver to win an event for ADR Motorsport, the lads that prepare the car have done an excellent job".

The next two stages saw Head drop 2 seconds to second place Wetton, but he pulled then back on the penultimate stage. As if to make the point that Head had dominated the event and lead from the front, he didn't even back off on the final stage. Maintaining a comfortable 33 second lead, Head set a fastest time on the final stage to win by 38 seconds.

"Fantastic!" enthused Head at the finish. "In my mind, I've been concentrating on winning this event since March. At last we have been able to show that not only can we drive slow cars quickly, but that we can win events in fast cars. I had to drive fast today because I wanted to finish in time to see the England match".

The next event for the Team Penguin duo will be the Rally GB when the pair will be competing against Richard Burns and Colin McRae on the final round of the World Rally Championship. This year the event is once again based in Cardiff and runs between 22 and 25 November.