Leading crew are Latrobe Valley residents Andrew Thompson and Corey Briede in an Excel X3 that Andrew has built over the last seven months. They received a set of 99R brake pads from Robison Engineering as a prize. In second place is the team of Byrnes and Diggins, the Melbourne based crew are in their second year with the Excel and showing rapid improvement.
Castlemaine based brothers Daniel and Mathew Anderson came third after putting in some very fast times in Heat . They had a slight moment in Heat two, causing them to slip back in the field.
The Hyundai Excel series rally cars are completely standard Hyundai Excel X3s with modifications only allowed to the suspension and safety items, such as roll cages and seat belts. They provide a low cost entry into state championship rallying and they are reliable and thrilling to drive.
At Eden this coming weekend the Hyundai Xxcels will compete in a rally that they have being coming to since 2005. The drivers and co-drivers will be from Sydney, Canberra and all parts of Victoria.
The teams to watch out for this weekend will be Tony and Nikki Moore and the Mackenzie brothers, all from Bendigo.The Moores missed the first round due to being at the Australian Rally Championship that was being held on the same weekend in Queensland, and after an excellent result there they will be looking to gain some points in the Victorian Championship.
After showing his form at the East Gippsland Stages, Andrew Thompson will be out to prove that it wasn't beginner's luck by putting in an extreme effort in Eden, as will Canberra's Fro Horobin, who hasn't seen any action since Rally Victoria last year. Another never to be discounted from the podium will be the crew of Peter Morrison and Susan Wasson in the longest serving Excel at the rally , the car having first debuted at the 2006 Bega Valley Rally.
Bob Slattery and Ryan Mcshane have also entered in new cars and Andrei Artamanov will return to try and break the curse that this rally has had on him. It will be a very interesting weekend as these cars of similar performance battle it out for State of Origin points.
The large service area at Edrom Rd will see the crews visit three times over the weekend and this is also another place that you can get close to the crews and their cars. In addition, spectator instructions will be available at the start at Snug Cove or at Rally Headquarters at the Eden Fishermen's Club in Imlay Rd
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