David Stokes (Ford Escort Mk1) and Dessie Nutt (Porsche 911) were the major winners on round four of the Armajaro MSA British Historic Rally Championship, the Mutiny Historic Rally on Saturday (5 June). After a challenging day on the gravel stages of mid-Wales, Stokes claimed his first post-historic win of the year while Nutt maintained his unbeaten historic run.Historic (category 1)Nutt and Geraldine McBride ultimately took the historic victory by more than a minute, but Nutt was quick to report the Mutiny as one of the toughest events of the season. "It might have looked easy, but it was a tough rally," said Nutt after spraying the champagne at the finish back in Llandrindod Wells.Francis Tuthill/Nick Kennedy were straight out of the blocks on the opening Gwibedog stage to take a two-second lead over Nutt/McBride. Nutt then pulled most of that back on Carnau before Tuthill went nine seconds clear in Halfway. But that was almost as far as Tuthill went after he put the Porsche 911 off in Crychan. Although little damaged, the car was out of the event and Nutt headed for service with nearly two minutes in hand over Jonathan and Graham Gale (Ford Cortina GT).That first demanding leg of stages also claimed Patrick Watts/Elgan Davies (Sunbeam Tiger) with transmission dramas and Drexel Gillespie/Gill Cotton (Lotus Cortina) with fuel starvation.After service came the 14-miles of Tywi, the longest stage of the rally. Just two miles in, Nutt/McBride lost the intercom and they then punctured with four miles to run. Suddenly, their lead was down to just over a minute and they faced two more stages without a spare wheel. "They were two very nervous stages," admitted Dessie who survived with his lead intact.The Gales were gutted to lose second overall and a class win when they dropped six minutes with a puncture in Tywi, so into second went Chris and Hilary Green (Lotus Cortina). They counted themselves lucky to puncture on the road section after Tywi as Neil and Michelle Calvert (Lotus Cortina) had a good run to third on their first event together for seven years.On his first gravel rally for 22 years, Robin Eyre-Maunsell claimed class B3 co-driven by Simon Bentley in Peter Scott's Cortina GT, while Dave Foster/Terry March (Mini Cooper S) took their second class win of the season in B2 after a cracking drive to sixth overall. The Saab 96 of John Parker/Robert Harrison completed the class winners in the historic category.

Post-historic (category 2)Ray Bellm/Marc Jones (Escort Mk1) attacked from the start in the post-historics, but Stokes/Den Golding matched the pace and just half a second split them heading into stage 4, Crychan. "I made one mistake and it cost us the rally," admitted Bellm, after spending a minute stuck on a bank in Crychan.Instead, it was Dominic Frattaroil/Wyn Thomas (Datsun 240Z) who swept ahead after taking 13 seconds out of everyone on the 12-miles of Crychan. But it was a tenuous lead, as Stokes and the flying Steve Smith/John Nichols (Escort RS2000) were just six seconds down heading into service. Then it nearly all went wrong for Stokes when a failed clutch bearing forced frantic activity in service. Now came Tywi, which would effectively decide the event. While Bellm bagged another fastest time, Stokes attacked and took time out of everyone else. Frattaroli lost his brakes mid-stage and dropped over half a minute while Smith also dropped time, having simply not pushed hard enough. "I was too slow in Tywi and gave it away," admitted Smith.Now Stokes led by 28 seconds with two stages to go and Frattaroli had to run them with only front brakes. "It was a bit hairy in Tywi," said Frattaroli, who then dropped five seconds on the final stage of Fwng when he just overshot a hairpin and had to reverse out. It was a moment that probably cost him second place as Smith was only four seconds ahead at the finish.But victory had gone to Stokes/Golding. "If it wasn't for the service crew, we wouldn't be here. The win had to come in the end," said Stokes. "I've been driving sensibly all day," he added with a grin. Smith was a superb class winning second while Frattaroli's third place was a universally popular result for a driver who has suffered appalling luck in recent times.Bellm fought back to fourth place, while team mates Richard Gower/Andrew Bargery (Escort) were hit early on with gearbox dramas and finally retired with a broken strut. Into fifth after one of the drives of the rally went James and David Young in their RS2000, having taken fastest overall time on Halfway and shown that they are set to challenge Smith in class C3 before long.Chris Browne/Liz Jordan loved the stages on their first experience of the area and claimed sixth in their Escort while a class C2-winning ninth went to Dave Dyer/Graham Wride in their 1600cc Escort. But the broadest grin remained with Stokes. "Absolutely brilliant," he smiled, having shaken off two early retirements in the preceding rallies.The BHRC stays on gravel for round five, the Mid-Wales Stages on 26/27 June.