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VRC2 - Akademos
A new look Akademos run by MUCC, the second round of the Victorian Rally Championship, greeted two cars of the Raymond Partners Accountants rally team. Both Stephen & Melissa, in the teams Subaru Legacy, and Glen Raymond & Luke Simpson, in their Toyota Corolla, were pumped to take their fight to the next level and try to set times to amaze the more fancied crews and their more developed machinery. Both teams were nervous as it was both only their second event in the respective cars, but were more than excited to be part of the State's best. Glen and Luke were also looking forward to taking youthful exuberance to the more experienced as only just the week before they had both only turned 20 and 17 respectively. Luke had also been thrown into the deep end, as it was his first ever rally, let alone at State level.
Wet and slippery conditions were found by the crews as they entered the forest, but wouldn't mean anything less than a hot pace set by the field. Stephen and Melissa blasted out, but soon found a rear tyre was rubbing against the strut, losing them time as it slowed the car down. This problem was to be rectified at service, but the extent of repairs required meant they incurred time penalties which knocked around their outright position. The service crew had a busy day, as they also had to fix a leaking front strut on the Corolla.
Glen & Luke blasted out of the blocks on the first stage to beat the 2WD pace setter of Brian Semmens, much to the enjoyment of the crew. The slippery conditions were minimised with a new set of Kumho tyres, and an aggressive driving style. Raymond and Semmens swapped times consistently over the first loop, until they lost 15 seconds when, after receiving a cheer from the crowd at the spectator point, fell off the notes. This left them 11 seconds behind at halfway, but more determined to take the fight to the end. Entering the second loop of stages, both team members attacked. Stephen & Melissa, now with a well running car, set some amazing times to prove their point. Over the last 5 stages all of their times were in the top 5, an impressive feat in an older car with minimal 4WD experience. Without the time penalties, the crew would have finished 5th. A could have been rally, but also a demonstration of things to come.
With the Corolla crews eye's on 2WD, they took an amazing 11 seconds of Semmens on the first short stage. The crew continued to attack the rest of the stages, although the last stage the crew found the car to be ill handling. This was later confirmed as when the crew left the spectator point, the crew also left a rear shock absorber! Stephen & Melissa also excited the crowd, as they cut too tight and set the car on two wheels, proving he is still getting used to the car. (car16.wmv) As the stage times were put up on the score board, the team was rapt that Glen & Luke had taken 17 seconds from Semmens over the second loop. Which meant they won 2WD by 6 seconds, and also 10th outright to boot! The champagne finish was an awesome finish to an awesome day for the whole team, a reward for the hard work they had all put in. The team would like to thank the directing crew, they did an amazing job with the event going off without a hitch.
They would also like to thank the team sponsors, Raymond Partners Accountants, Legible Signs - Warragul, Albroys Subaru Warragul & Traralgon, Quality Site Welding - Warragul, ET Performance Products, MRT and the service crew team.
Also - Congrats to Matty, 2nd outright nav!
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