Championship leading crew Nathan Reeves and Scott Spedding took first outright for the event by twelve seconds.
Jesse and Adam started the first heat of the event battling hard with eventual third place getters Warren Lee and David Lethlean in their Mitsubishi Evo 9, both crews recorded an equal time on the opening stage, ensuring that it would be a tough battle for both crews in heat one as Nathan Reeves took the first stage by eleven seconds.
Going in to the final stage of the first heat Jesse was trailing Reeves by 24 seconds and Lee by four. On this stage Jesse upped the ante to take out the stage win by 9 seconds from Reeves and 14 seconds ahead of Lee which gave the Pakenham based team second place in heat 1.
“After the longer stage three we were a little disappointed in our start and knew that the Black’s Lane stage suited us and our car, so we were happy to win that one,” Jesse said at the major service.
At the long service Jesse was impressed with the RS&SP Robison Motorsport Impreza and chose to run a new set of tyres for the second heat as he was expecting his two closest rivals to be doing the same in order to take the heat and rally win. The team also fitted new 99R Racing Pads to the rear of the Subaru to give Jesse maximum confidence going into this all important heat.
Robison and Wright knew that they had to attack early in the heat if they were to keep in touch with Reeves and keep the Evo 9 of Lee at bay. The first of three shorter stages were to come after the service and regroup, these would provide the opportunity to close the gap to Reeves and Spedding.
However this was not to be with Jesse and Adam breaking a left rear drive shaft five kilometres from the end of SS 7 Black’s Lane 2 which was the first repeated stage and one that the team were hoping to make up time on. Jesse and Adam were required to get the drive shaft changed themselves after some confusion between them and the service crew at the fifteen minute service break. With Jesse’s experience and with some help of the Reeves Racing crew they were able to get the driveshaft changed in 12 minutes and be ready for the final two stages.
In the final two stages a 6.23km blast through Crofts Lane 2 and the final 26.76km stage Batronic it was going to be a close finish between the first three cars on the road. The longer stage was going to be the one that was to count as Jesse made sure that he drove smoothly in order to get to the finish without drama.
Though it was Reeves who encountered problems on this stage after losing brakes and finding a winery fence caused him to drop time on this stage and allow Robison and Wright both the stage and heat win. Jesse said after the final stage.
“Other than the drive shaft issues that we have now discovered the cause of the car was faultless throughout the event. With two full events completed in the new car we are now confident that we can push harder on the final two VRC events.”
Robinson Motorsport would also like to thank the event organisers and officials who put on a great event in cold conditions. Special thanks also to the teams sponsors, RS&SP Suspension, 99R Racing Pads, Efrom 4WD Suspension, Autobarn Narre Warren, Modena Racing Gears, Fabraications, Wasabi Horse Paint & Design and Golly Photo.
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