The Raymond Partners team of Stephen and Glen Raymond have clenched their first Exedy Victorian Rally Championship in their Toyota Corolla Sportivo at a dramatic Akademos Rally on Sunday.Â
The brother pairing fended off the competition to take both heat wins, giving them an unassailable lead going in to the final round at Rally Victoria in just four weeks time.
In a rally of high attrition with 36 starters and just 29 finishers, Will Orders fresh from a stint in the United States, with first time co-driver Lauren Grey showed the locals their speed by setting the pace all day in the Summit Innovations Evo 5, winning the event outright by 51 seconds over the Raymond brothers; however, Orders had not elected to score VRC points, giving the Raymonds the full 30 points for both heats.
Tristan Penahall and Jolie Middleton tried to take it up to the Raymonds in their older Subaru WRX Sti, but could not quite manage the pace and finished 2nd outright for the day, in an event they had to win, to stay in the championship fight.
In an impressive drive, Alan Friend and Michelle Canning charged home in 3rd outright, and 1st EXEDY 2WD in their Nissan Silvia RS, to put a 2WD on the podium, a result which will well and truly keep Friend in the 2WD Championship hunt, where anything but a solid result for Brian Semmens and Dan Parry could see Friend try and snatch the championship at Rally Victoria.
Also in 2WD, some sensational times put down by Shannon Fitcher in his rebuilt Datsun 1600 with co-driver Callum Oakey showed that they will be ones to keep an eye on in the future.
The Hyundai Excel Rally Series was well represented in the field with seven starters in the popular class but was dominated by Viv Dilkes-Frayne and Doug Fernie, coming home strongly in 12th Outright. Second place was taken out by newcomers Robert McKerlie and Nich Seymour, and 3rd place by Matt and David Leoncini.
The EXEDY VRC now heads to west Gippsland for the final round of both the Australian and EXEDY Victorian Rally Championships for 2012, Rally Victoria on November 16-17.Â
This event will give Victorian crews the chance to test their pace against Australia’s best teams on some of the best roads in the country. Rally Victoria will again be based from the picturesque Lardner Park near Warragul, which will also host the Super Special Stage allowing Spectators to get up and close to the action. Check out www.rallyvictoria.com.au for all the latest news.
Top 5 Provisional Results - Akademos
Heat 1
Orders / Gray      Mits Evo 5      46:27
Raymond / Raymond   Toyota Corolla Sptv   47.58   +1m31s
Penhall/Middleton   Subaru WRX Sti      48:14   +1m47s
Friend/Canning      Nissan Silvia RS      49:25   +2m58s
Stewart/Zinsstag   Subaru Sti Spec C   50:03   +3m36s
Heat 2
Raymond / Raymond   Toyota Corolla Sptv   45.17  Â
Orders / Gray      Mits Evo 5      45.57   +40s
Penhall/Middleton   Subaru WRX Sti      46:31   +1m14s
Stewart/Zinsstag   Subaru Sti Spec C   48:44   +3m27s
Friend/Canning      Nissan Silvia RS      48:53   +3m36s
Outright
Orders / Gray      Mits Evo 5      1:32:24
Raymond / Raymond   Toyota Corolla Sptv   1:33:15   +51s
Penhall/Middleton   Subaru WRX Sti      1:34:45   +2m21s
Friend/Canning      Nissan Silvia RS      1:38:18   +5m54s
Stewart/Zinsstag   Subaru Sti Spec C   1:38:47   +6m23s
Provisional Exedy VRC Points after Round 5 – Top 5
1   Stephen Raymond   277
2   Tristan Penhall      188
3   Wayne Stewart      138
4   Justin Dowel      135
5   Alan Friend      96
Photo: John Doutch
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