Armajaro MSA British Historic Rally Championship

Round five: Mid Wales StagesFor the second event running, Jeremy Easson/Den Golding and Steven Smith/John Nichols scored the major victories in the 2005 Armajaro MSA British Historic Rally Championship.

Round five of the championship, the Mid Wales Stages over the weekend (25/26 June) comprised 55 stage miles in the Hafren and Sweet Lamb region. Historic (category 1)As is becoming the norm for 2005, the lead of the historic category was a three-way contest as the Porsche 911 crews of Smith/Nichols and Dessie Nutt/Geraldine McBride took on the Sunbeam Tiger of Patrick Watts/Elgan Davies. Once again, Watts was in new territory but that didn't affect his run over the opening two stages on Saturday afternoon as he took a 17s lead over Smith.

"I drove too comfortably," admitted Smith as he prepared for Sunday morning's re-start. Still smarting from Saturday's times, the XS Racing Porsche attacked from the start on Sunday and was 15s up before the 13-mile Sweet Lamb stage that preceded service. With another 21s added on the longest stage of the rally, Smith/Nichols were well clear before Watts had a time-consuming off in Cwmysgawen.

"Brilliant!" said Smith of his day. "We pushed very hard this morning and the car hasn’t missed a beat," he added. Meanwhile, Watts was fortunate to finish second after his high-speed off on the penultimate stage. "It was a '6' that came up a bit quick," he explained. The Tiger went through a fence into a field and Davies had to get out and open a gate before they could continue. The moment cost nearly 40s, but they had enough in hand over Nutt/McBride to claim second.

A fine battle raged for class B4 as Neil Calvert/Arlene Cookson fended off Chris and Hilary Green by 21s in the battle of the Lotus Cortinas. However, when Calvert was on his side in a ditch on the final stage, things didn’t look so good. "We were on our side and it drove out," said a relieved but rather incredulous Calvert.

Tim Beall and Pete Dalton (Ford Cortina GT) took class B3, even though they found the 1500cc Cortina struggling a bit on the long uphill sections. In B2, Matthew and Dood Pearce had another cracking run to put their Mini Cooper well clear of the similar car of Phil and Barbara Smith once Mike Barratt/Michelle Calvert went out after a catalogue of problems. Nick Pinkett/Julian Lucking took B1 in their Saab 96 after class rivals John Parker/Robert Harrison first shed a wheel and then had a crank pulley fail in their 96.Post-historic (category 2)Easson/Golding ultimately ran out clear winners in the post-historic category, but it would surely have been different had clutch failure not put David Stokes/Ian Oakey out on Sunday morning.

Stokes attacked from the start on Saturday to take a 10s lead over the opening two stages in Hafren and Sweet Lamb. However, Stokes ended the day concerned about a clutch problem and he was right to be worried as the problem worsened on the second stage of Sunday morning. He lost 90s at the uphill hairpin in Nant Melen and was forced out at the end of the stage with no clutch at all.

With Dominic Frattaroli/Wyn Thomas out at the same time with driveshaft failure on the Datsun 240Z, Easson/Golding were left with a clear run to victory. "We're on a bit of a roll at the moment," said Easson, although the loss of a starter motor caused concern over the final leg of stages and forced them to be cautious.

Nevertheless, with two minutes in hand, Easson/Golding were able to claim a clear win and strengthen their championship bid. Up into a fine second in post-historics and clear C3 victory went James and David Young after a storming drive in their Escort Mk1, while equally impressive was third post-historic and class C2 success for Ken Forster/John Stanger-Leathes (Escort Mk1). "I was thrilled with that," said Forster. "I can't go any quicker and we didn't make any mistakes," he admitted.

Half a minute down on Forster were C2 rivals John Worthing/Bill Robertson, while Craig Salter/Preston Ayres had a good run to sixth overall and second in C5 to Easson/Golding.

Class C5 was a great contest between four Porsche 911s, with only 80s covering the quartet at the finish. Peter Lythell/Gill Cotton claimed a well-deserved class win, but Andrew Street/Jez Mason were only half a minute down in second and just one second up on Graham Wilson/Keith Fellowes after they tied on the final stage! Paul Drinkall/Roy Brown completed the quartet of Porsches.