The West Wales Rally Spares R.A.C. Rally Championship will continue with round two, the Viking Motorsport/Links Electrical Mid Wales Stages (Sunday 1 March).The championship, organised by the Roger Albert Clark Rally Motor Club, runs in parallel to the Mintex MSA British Historic Rally Championship and is aimed at clubmen historic crews as well as those running in the Open Category. With containing costs for clubmen as a prime aim, the championship runs to a six-tyre rule on all events.The Mid Wales is always one of the most popular events on the calendar, offering crews the chance to tackle superb stages in the Pikes Peak, Myherin and Hafren forest complexes.Heading the R.A.C. contenders after the opening round are Phil Burton and Mal Capstick after a fine run on the Red Kite Stages in their Ford Escort Mk2. They don’t have much prior knowledge of these stages, but will surely be very quick once more as they contest the championship’s Open Category. Ranged against Burton in the Open ranks will be two more very quick crews: Simon and Alister Crook in their Opel Manta 400 and Barry Stevenson-Wheeler/John Pickavance (Ford Escort Mk2).Several crews in historic cars will make their seasonal debut on the Mid Wales and should be prominent championship contenders. James Potter and Bob Dick are back in their re-shelled Escort Mk2 following a roll on the Trackrod Rally last September and they will go up against brothers Leigh and Chris Armstrong (Escort Mk2) and Gary Cooper/Graham Riley (Sunbeam Lotus) in the Category 3 ranks. Among the lower powered Category 3 cars are Grahame Standen/Jane Edgington (1600cc Ford Escort Mk2) and David Hopkins/Tony Vart (Talbot Sunbeam).Category 2 historic cars chasing R.A.C. points will be led by the Porsche 911 of Tim Mason/Graham Wild and the Escort Mk1 of Graham Samuel/Val Thompson. In the 1600cc class are the Ford Escorts of Malcolm Bayliss/Siobhan Pugh and Stuart Cariss/Linda Cariss.In Category 1, the battle is likely to be between the Lotus Cortinas of Bob Bean/Malcolm Smithson and Gwilym Roberts/Don James, with Bean currently ahead on points after the Red Kite. Finally, running in Category 4 is the Toyota Corolla of Will Midgley/Jonathan Davies.The rally will be based in Newtown with Rally HQ at The Hafren and the central service area will be at Sweet Lamb. The first car will start at 9am on Sunday and return to the finish just after 3pm.

The Viking Motorsport/Links Electrical Mid Wales Stages is organised by the Newtown and District Motor Club. For more details about the event please visit www.newtown-mc.co.uk.