TEENAGER Sam Bilham admits he was kicking himself after an early crash cost him a chance of victory in his latest outing.

The Bingley driver, fresh from his title-winning display in the British Trial & Rally Drivers Association National Gravel Series, headed to South Wales to tackle the Peter Lloyd Stages in a bid to increase his lead in the Formula1000 Tarmac Championship.

Only two contenders in his class made the trip to the rain-soaked Pembrey venue and 18-year-old Bilham was confident of a win and the maximum championship points that would go with it.

But an opening-stage trip into a tyre wall effectively ended his hopes and Bilham, who had Ryan Jones as a new co-driver, was left to reflect on the time lost due to a damaged radiator and bodywork.

"It was unbelievably slippery on the opening stage and I just got caught out under-braking when the back tried to overtake the front and ended up in some tyres" said Bilham.

"Once we got going again I noticed the engine temperature had rocketed, so rather than risk terminal engine damage we crawled back into service.

"I must say a huge thanks to my father and Mark Williams, who patched the car up and did everything they could to repair the car so we could rejoin the event for stage two."

A mature approach would be needed if Bilham was to return home with more points to add to his tally.

A reminder of the morning accident was the red temperature light that was flickering on his Nissan Micra's dashboard whenever he pushed too hard.

So Bilham drove conservatively throughout the afternoon to enable him to cross the finish line and he said: "I'm still kicking myself about the morning's off.

"I knew the conditions were tricky out there and we could see there was so much mud on the road. I just left my braking too late and that was that.

"On the shorter stages I did manage to almost get back up to full pace, but I couldn't risk a non-finish so we nursed it back to the end.

"It was not one of my best days but I'll certainly learn from it for the future."