Bendigo Car Club member Brad Hall has dominated the latest round of the Motorsport Australia Victorian Khanacross Championship, picking up an impressive victory over the weekend.
With the club hosting the fifth round of the championship at its local course, Hall was one of 47 individuals to compete in the event, many of whom were state-level competitors.
Although there were plenty of strong names contesting the round, Hall proved to be in a league of his own, steering his Subaru WRX to the fastest time on all six runs.
While heavy rain pre-event made it difficult for competitors in the first half, Hall had jumped out to a lead of more than 26 seconds over another WRX driver in Wayne McNaughton after three runs.
As the course began to dry for the remaining three runs, Hall continued to produce brilliant runs with the closest McNaughton getting to the leader being the fifth run when he almost was three seconds slower.
However that run came in between six second and nine second run wins to Hall as the leader eventually came away with a 45 second victory at the conclusion of the event.
“I was a bit surprised that I was faster than the state championship competitors, but it was a good day nonetheless as I had not one problem for the whole time,” Hall said.
“Bendigo is my home track and I usually go okay there, so I was a bit confident going in. My main goal was to keep it clean and tidy and make no mistake that could lead to penalties.
“I actually held back a little bit at the start because the ground was so wet , but as the track got drier, it was more predictable and I could actually push a little bit.
"I never got ahead of myself because it's not over until it’s over but I definitely had a good feeling about the car as it was handling great.
“Overall a great day out and a big thanks to all the officials and volunteers for helping run the event in trying conditions.”
Finishing behind Hall and McNaughton were Andrew McSwain and Warren Minnette, both of whom made it a WRX top four, while Ross Batson in the Mitsubishi Mirage rounded out the top five.
The battle between Minnette and Batson was one of the closest of the day as less than half a second was the difference between the two after the latter attempted a late and unsuccessful comeback.
Batson wouldn’t go home empty handed though, securing a class victory in the process - as did the sixth placed Patrick Meehan in the Subaru Impreza RS.
The remaining class winners were Mathew Webb and Matthew Caldwell, both just missing out on a top 10 finish with eleventh and twelfth respectively.