Harry Bates has taken another leap towards his maiden Australian Rally Championship title after winning both heats of the Eureka Rush.
The 24 year-old won all bar one of the rally's stages, on what were difficult forest roads north-west of Ballarat.
After two rain-soaked Super Special Stages on Saturday night, the second of the championship's one day events covered over 120 kilometres of stages.
Bates' third Victorian win in a row extends his lead in the championship standings.
“It was really tough conditions here at the Eureka Rush but we are very happy with our day and completely stoked to have taken most stage wins and to be here on top of the podium,” Bates said.
Returning for his second event in the Les Walkden Rallying Subaru were Simon Evans and Bernie Webb, and the pair again impressed.
After a slow start to the day, Evans found himself in second on both of the day's heats, and finished his hectic motorsport weekend in champagne.
“The stages are just incredibly challenging," Evans said.
"You just have to be really smart and I called on my experience a lot to get through and we actually recorded reasonable times.”
Lewis Bates finished a fine third, and subsequently moves up into second in the drivers' standings after completing another Toyota Gazoo Racing Australia 1-2.
“To have two Toyota Gazoo Racing cars on the podium is a credit to the team on what was a challenging day. We’re really happy with our result,” Lewis Bates said.
A consistent finish saw John O'Dowd fourth, after showing impressive speed in the Truck Wholesale WA Skoda Fabia R5.
John O'Dowd finished fourth in the Eureka Rush. Photo: Peter Whitten
JJ Hatton finished in fifth position despite losing his Hyundai's brakes late in the day, and was just relieved to finish after his horrid run with luck.
The tricky stages were not so kind to championship front runners Molly Taylor and Luke Anear, however.
Taylor hit a tree stump on the day's second stage badly damaging her factory Subaru WRX.
Impressive repair work was completed by the Subaru do Motorsport team at the midday break, but was to no avail.
Taylor and co-driver Malcolm Read finished the afternoon's first stage well off the pace, and were eventually forced to retire, ultimately succumbing to the earlier mechanical issues.
After completing an impressive first stage time in the morning, Luke Anear rolled his Ford Fiesta R5 on the Water Race stage, ending his podium chances.
Despite the roll being only minor, Anear was unable to compete in heat two.
New Zealander, Hayden Paddon, finished third in the Asia Pacific Rally Championship field after a rock broke his Hyundai's suspension.
The next round of the Australian Rally Championship is in South Australia in four weeks time.
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