BACKBARROW'S Tom Gibbs strengthened his hold on this season's Lakeland Lanequest series with a third consecutive win from The Derby Arms at Witherslack.

A full house of 165 competitors faced the hardest and longest event of the series so far which saw competitors slowed to a crawl at times going up the infamous Tow Top and Strawberry Bank ascents.

Add to that the narrow and tortuous lanes in and around the Winster Valley and it was little surprise that on this occasion no-one managed a clear run of 30 controls without penalties.

But it was Gibbs who emerged victorious with 288 points, making him very hard to beat for overall series honours.

But no-one seems to have told David Heffernan. The Ulverston rider, who finished runner up last year, finished on 264 points.

Jo Cleary would have been first in the ladies solo class yet again, but lateness penalties demoted her to second place on 215 points behind last year's solo champion Helen Jackson on 236 points.

At the half way mark, Cleary now leads Jackson by only 14 points in the series standings

In the Juniors class, Fenna Whittaker managed a creditable 132 points; whilst one half of last week's organising partnership, Bruce Attwood, topped the Generation Pairs class with son George, scoring an excellent 240 points.

Last year's runners up in the Adult Pairs/3's class, Sally Ozanne and Kieren Hodgeson, served notice that they mean business again this year with a first time out convincing class win over Neil Towler and Martin Cook.

Series results are available on www.wheelbase.co.uk/event/lakeland-lanequest