BHRC preview, round five: Mid-Wales Stages RallyThe Mid-Wales Stages Rally on 26/27June will make its debut in the Armajaro MSA British Historic Rally Championship as round five of the 2004 championship. Running largely over the classic stages in Hafren and Sweet Lamb, the Mid-Wales is new to the BHRC, but promises to give the historics a cracking event to take the season through the halfway point.After two stages on Saturday afternoon, the action resumes with a further seven stages on Sunday before the event finishes back in Newtown on Sunday afternoon.Historic (category 1)With four wins from four events, the Porsche 911 of Dessie Nutt/Geraldine McBride has a tight grip on the historic category for pre ’67 cars. That unbeaten run has also given Nutt a seven-point lead in the contest for the overall BHRC title, but Dessie, like most of the leading contenders, has not previously contested the Mid-Wales.“We’ve done places like Hafren and Sweet Lamb before, but the other stages are going to be new to me,” he says. Taking the fight to Nutt will be the man who looks after the Irishman’s Porsche between events, Francis Tuthill. Despite the time demands of preparing a horde of classic Porsches, Tuthill is also chasing the BHRC and has twice run Nutt close this season. However, two non-finishes, the last after sliding off on the recent Mutiny Rally, have hurt Tuthill’s points tally.The man who could upset the Porsche domination of the historics is Patrick Watts in his Sunbeam Tiger. Having demonstrated stunning speed on his first taste of rallying, Watts was thwarted by suspension failure on the Mutiny. If he travels to the Mid-Wales, Nutt and Tuthill will be watching his times very closely!Second in the historic points are Chris and Hilary Green in their Lotus Cortina after a typically consistent and strong campaign. The Greens also lead class B4 by a handsome margin, but the contest in class B3 is much closer. The Ford Cortina GTs of Jonathan/Graham Gale and Ronnie Roughead are battling mightily and the Gales will arrive in Newtown with just a four-point lead. However, but for a disastrous puncture on the Mutiny that lost them second place overall, the Gales could have been further clear.Dave Foster/Terry March now head class B2 in their Mini Cooper S, despite only tackling two of the four events to date, while the Saab 96 of John Parker/Robert Harrison is having a great season to lead class B1 by a healthy margin.Post-historic (category 2)Prior to the Mutiny, Ray Bellm and Marc Jones (Escort Mk1) were matching Nutt/McBride point for point in the contest for the overall BHRC title. A minor off in Crychan lost them a minute, however, and dropped them to fourth in the post-historics. It also left them just two points ahead of Steve Smith/John Nichols (Escort RS200) at the head of the post-historic category.Bellm has been driving superbly this season and took three straight wins, on both gravel and tarmac, to open his campaign. That minor error on the Mutiny will not blunt his speed and he will attack the Mid-Wales from the start in his bid for another win.Smith and Nichols, meanwhile, have been awesome in their RS2000, frequently matching the pace of the more powerful BDA-engined Escorts and thrilling the fans with some attacking driving. They had a really good day on the Mutiny in what Steve described as a “very grown up performance!” To date, none of the other post-historic crews have been able to match the speed and consistency of Bellm and Smith, but Richard Gower and David Stokes/Den Golding undoubtedly have the pace to win. Gower has yet to have a clear run this season and retired from the Mutiny with gearbox dramas. But he is the man that Bellm has tipped for victory! Stokes, meanwhile, put a series of problems behind him to win the Mutiny and will go into the Mid-Wales confident of more success. Ernie Graham/Robin Kellard (Escort Mk1) will also be hoping to put a torrid season to date behind them with a top finish.Stuart Rolt heads class C4 in his Porsche 911, while Dave Dyer/Graham Wride (Escort) are having a great season to head class C2 as the Hillman Avengers of Philip Atkinson of Tony Shields have suffered a raft of problems.Smith and Nichols have a vice-like grip on class C3, but the pace of James and David Young (Escort RS2000) has caught everyone’s attention. From their stage times on the Mutiny, Smith will soon need to take a keen interest in the performance of the brothers as they just get quicker and quicker with each event!