Scorching temperatures greeted the 145 crews that assembled in Builth Wells for the Nicky Grist Stages, the latest round of the Protyre BTRDA series coupled with the Pirelli Welsh National championship, HRCR Stage Masters and TCS series.The entry was boosted by both the Castrol & MEM Toyota Yaris of Will Creighton and Merion Evans joining the entry looking for extra mileage before their BRC campaign resumes.The event comprised two loops of the classic forests of Crychan Halfway Monument and the returning Route 60 interspersed with a midday service.Excessive tyre wear, plumes of dust and the heat was going to be the main talking points of the day.But it turned out to be an excellent day for our local crews with many coming away with silverware after a tough day’s motorsport.Ben Friend together with regular co driver Cliffy Simmons came away with 16th overall, second in class and third Historic despite the heat causing an engine misfire and having excessive tyre wear on the Allglass Anglia Escort RS1800.Nik Elsmore, with new co-driver Ifan Devine in the CDS Taxis & Calico Interiors-backed Mitsubishi Evo 9, finished 19th overall and fourth in class, now armed with a new engine it was a loose TCA bolt that caused concern on the opening loop.“The car’s pulling all over the place; I hope we can get it sorted in service, but the engine is really good, I did a small test yesterday just to knock some of the rust off me,” he said at the time.Reigning BTRDA Bronze Star champions Nigel and Karen Jenkins in the NJ Autos Vauxhall Nova were looking to get their season back on track after a difficult start and had a real ding-dong battle with Dylan Fowler-Bishop and Dan Evans in the Restruct-backed Nissan Micra on the opening loop.Dust and an overshoot saw them drop 15 seconds to their rivals at service.A big push on the next three tests saw the gap close to within three seconds with eight miles of Crychan still to go, but unfortunately a loose intercom lead meant that they went over a mile without the all important pacenotes and then a puncture saw any hopes of a 1400 win evaporate but they still finished 32nd overall and second in class.Geoff Phelps and Colin Jenkins were another crew to take silverware home with second in class 6 and 34th overall in the Cherry Rock Mk1 Escort after a trouble-free run.Ed James, together with Kevin Lane in the lovely Nissan Micra Kit Car, had their best run of the season to date, finishing 53rd overall and third 1400 home.Charles Hopkinson, with Alun Jones on the notes in the Dave Jenkins Motorsport Escort RS1800, took 63rd and 15th in class.It was a mixed day for father and daughter duo Jeremy and Alexandra Harris in the beautiful Kilcot Garage Escort Mexico with a time-consuming puncture on stage two and what Jeremy described as “miscommunication” on stage three, plus he had a vibration which he hoped was just the exhaust.However, all was well on the second loop to allow them to finish 76th overall and ninth in class and earn some good Welsh championship points.Rounding out the locals were Graham Thatcher and Tim Samuel in the mighty Pembridge Vehicle Management TR7 V8, which took 99th overall and sixth in class.Overall winners of the event were William Creighton and Liam Regan in the Castrol-backed Toyota Yaris, with Osian Pryce and Phil Pugh taking top 2WD honours and 12th overall in the Wales Motorsport Escort RS1800.But the real heroes were all the marshals and officials who were out in that heat all day as well as the organisers who supplied everyone with plenty of water all day.