Warren Lee and David Lethlean have won Round 2 of the EXEDY Victorian Rally Championship by a massive 5 minutes at the Bega Valley Rally held in Eden over the Queen’s Birthday weekend. The pair pushed their JDL EVO 9 hard all day in the slippery and wet conditions on an altered course, to win both heats and take the Championship lead.
Event organisers were forced to make last minute re-routes to some competitive sections, and two stages were cancelled due to the large amount of rain in the area late last week; however the remaining stages lived up to the events reputation of offering some of the best roads in the country.
Round 1 winner Steve Kenway and Lauren Palmer had a day they would rather forget, with the car developing a misfire during Heat 1 that they could not rectify, costing them valuable time and forcing them back in the placings.
Brothers Steve and Glen Raymond held on with exhaust problems to come and equal 2nd outright with 2WD masters Brian Semmens and Dan Parry in the Nissan 200SX. Justin Walker and Bianca Lowe were 2nd O/R 2WD being closely chased down by relative newcomers Alan Roe and Ray Farrell in a newer Nissan S13.
Neil Schey and Scott Middleton continued to impress with their MK 2 Escort RS finishing Heat 1 in second place and bagging valuable championship points. A committed drive in Heat 2 saw them finish in 5th O/R for the heat and 5th O/R overall.
Outright hopefuls Jesse Robison and Scott Spedding suffered a failed fuel pump on SS4 to put them out of the event, just 3 seconds down on Lee after the first two stages. The failure puts end to hopes for Robison in the 2011 EXEDY VRC after he had already missed round 1.
Craig and Carrie Morris held on for 4th outright after their mammoth effort to rebuild their RDA/EBC EVO 6 lancer after their crash at Round 1.
A creek crossing on SS5 cost many hopefuls time as their cars submerged through the cold flowing water, with some developing misfires and others like the Penhall /Middleton WRX simply stopped, requiring them to be recovered from the stage prior to starting Heat 2.
In the BATRONIC Hyundai Excel Series the favoured Mackenzie brothers did not disappoint winning the class by over 2 minutes and extending their championship lead over Fro Horobin and AJ Crowley with Peter Morrison and Susan Wasson rounding out the top 3.
The EXEDY VRC now heads home to Victorian for Round 3, the George Derrick Memorial Rally to be held around the wine producing region of Avoca on July 16.
Provisional Top 10
1 Warren Lee/David Lethlean Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 83:12
=2 Stephen Raymond/Glen Raymond Subaru Legacy RS 88:50
=2 Brian Semmens/Daniel Parry Nissan 200SX RVS12 88:50
4 Craig Morris/Carrie Morris Mitsubishi Lancer 89:30
5 Neil Schey/Scott Middleton Ford Escort RS 2000 89:31
6Â Wayne Stewart/Lucas Zinsstag Subaru WRX STi RA 90:25
7 Steve Kenway/Lauren Palmer Subaru Impreza WRX 91:07
8 Justin Walker/Bianca Lowe Ford Escort  91:21
9 Alan Roe/Ray Farrell  Nissan 200SX  91:51
10 Rob Davis/Aidan O'Halloran Nissan Sunny GTi  92:36
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