Martin McCormack returned to the 2008 Dunlop/Gambia MSA British Historic Rally Championship for the Mid Wales Historic Stages last weekend and turned in a mighty drive to claim category three spoils.
On an event that once again drew rave reviews from the competitors, McCormack and Joe Agnew charged back into the lead after delays on the opening day, while an equally strong recovery drive after an even bigger delay from Richard Hill/Patrick Cooper netted third in the category behind Darren Moon/John McNichol.
David Stokes/Guy Weaver finally shrugged off their bad luck with a great run in category two, but were edged back to second by Steven Smith/John Nichols, while Patrick Watts/Elgan Davies bagged another category one win in their Sunbeam Tiger.
Category 1
The rally opened with two stages on Saturday afternoon and crews went straight into the amazing Pikes Peak stage, a long climb up the mountain via a series of wide-open hairpins. Dessie Nutt/Geraldine McBride set the pace in their Porsche 911 despite a puncture towards the finish and ended the first leg with a lead over the rumbling Tiger. "I'm surprised we took time off Patrick," said Nutt before the restart on Sunday morning.
The opening two stages in Hafren on Sunday were in superb condition and Watts really got into his stride to take over the lead of the category. He duly went on to build his advantage to nearly a minute.
"Perfect; we enjoyed ourselves," said Watts back at the finish in Newtown. Nutt dropped time in Myherin when a stone jammed between the wheel and the caliper, but still took second, clear of a tremendous battle for class B4.
Into the last stage it was level between Neil Calvert/Arlene Cookson (Lotus Cortina) and Graham Waite/Mike Reynolds (Volvo Amazon) and it took a big push from Calvert to grab the class from the charging Volvo. Then, there was a late scare for the Cortina crew when the car refused to restart for the run to the finish and they only just made it to the final control on time.
![Martin McCormack /Joe Agnew [Pic credit: BHRC]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/463041.jpg)
