Stokes and Nutt on top againFor the second time this month, David Stokes (Ford Escort Mk1) and Dessie Nutt (Porsche 911) were the major winners in the Armajaro MSA British Historic Rally Championship.
Each won their division of the BHRC on round five, the Rally Marketing Mid Wales Stages, despite tough competition over the gravel stages of Hafren and nearby forests.Historic (category 1)Nutt and Geraldine McBride maintained their superb unbeaten run in 2004 with a fifth straight historic win in their Porsche 911. However, once again this was no cruise for the Irishman and he had to dig deep over the final three stages to wrest the lead back from the 911 of Francis Tuthill/Nick Kennedy.
"It was very, very close," admitted Nutt after attacking the final three stages to turn a 3s deficit into a 13s winning margin by the time the crews arrived at the finish in Newtown. After the pair of stages on Saturday evening, Nutt led by 22s after a storming opening stage, but Tuthill took fresh tyres on Sunday morning and by the time the crews reached service after four stages in Hafren and Sweet Lamb, Tuthill led by 3s. "He took a big chunk out of us in Sweet Lamb," explained Nutt.With fresh tyres for the final three stages, Nutt really attacked and grabbed the lead back at the end of a mighty contest. "It's been a cracking event," confirmed Kennedy.
A class-winning third went to Neil Calvert/Arlene Cookson (Lotus Cortina) but their event had been fraught as a constant loss of water and overheating threatened to end their rally. "We got through 12 gallons of water and four litres of oil," admitted Calvert, having re-filled the radiator after every stage. "It held together!"
Calvert/Cookson were just seven seconds up on Chris and Hilary Green (Lotus Cortina) at the finish, but the class win should really have gone to Graham Waite/Gary Titchmarsh in the Volvo Amazon. On the final stage in Ceri, an axle link broke and that pulled the handbrake on! They limped the last four miles, but dropped three minutes and lost the class win in the process. "It's just one of those things," said a philosophical Waite. "It's one of the best events we've done," he added.
Jonathan and Graham Gale (Ford Cortina GT) were convincing class three winners from the similar car of Ronnie Roughead/Ian Canavan, while Philip and Barbara Smith (Mini Cooper) took class two. However, Mike Barratt/Michele Calvert (Mini Cooper) were less than half a minute behind despite losing over four minutes in Sweet Lamb. Finally, John Parker/Robert Harrison took their Saab 96 to class one spoils.Post-historic (category 2)Stokes and Golding put down a marker in the post-historics from the start of the wet and, at times, foggy pair of stages on Saturday evening. They finished the leg 14s up on Ray Bellm/Marc Jones (Escort Mk1) and were never headed on their way to a second victory in three weeks. "It was a brilliant start; we were nicely on it," reckoned Stokes. Bellm's challenge lasted only until the second stage on Sunday morning when a major engine problem left them parked on the side of the Nant Melen stage.
Now it was Richard Gower/Andrew Bargery (Escort) that emerged to lead the challenge, but Stokes arrived at service with a lead of half a minute. Though the margin dropped to 19 seconds over the final three stages, Stokes was assured victory. His only concern was an intermittent starter problem that meant he could ill afford to stall on a stage. "We've led from start to finish and we've eased off a bit this afternoon," said Stokes.
A superb third overall and class three winners were Steve Smith/John Nichols (Escort RS2000). "Saturday's stages were very slippery and I felt I'd done really badly," admitted Smith. "Then I saw the times and we were third!" That form continued through Sunday, although upping their pace against the growing challenge of James and David Young nearly cost them a finish.
"We were using move revs and therefore more fuel," explained Smith. A quick check after two stages on Sunday morning left them concerned about getting to service, but they found a local resident building a wall and were able to drain four litres of fuel from his cement mixer. "He was extremely helpful," said Smith. The fact that, two stages later, the car ran dry in the queue for service proved how close it had been! The Youngs claimed second in class as well as a cracking sixth overall in their RS2000.
A fine class four victory went to Dominic Frattaroli/Wyn Thomas (Datsun 240Z) despite engine timing that was far from optimum and changeable weather giving them some headaches. "Each stage we got to, it had just rained," reckoned Dominic. Just seven seconds down in fifth was BHRC debutant Jeremy Easson with Iestyn Ap Dafydd co-driving a Porsche 911 from the Tuthill stable. "The pace was a lot faster than I expected, but we've had an absolute ball," said a delighted Easson at the finish.Dave Dyer/Graham Wride (Escort) had an excellent run to class two victory, but the Mexicos of Ken Forster/John Stanger-Leathes and John Worthing/John Cadwallader were barely half a minute behind after a great battle.
The BHRC moves to tarmac for round six, the Manx Historic Rally on 29-31 July.
