Phillip East has won the fifth round of the Motorsport Australia Victorian Motorkhana Championship after what was a thrilling display across the day.
 
With 35 competitors entered in the Bendigo Car Club-run event at the Bendigo Saleyards, it was the veteran in East who claimed the victory by just one and half tenths of a second over Michael Exell.
 
Despite East winning just one of the 10 tests and Excell winning two, the top duo ended up finishing more than 15 seconds ahead of the next best placed competitor in Matthew Webb, who didn't win a test throughout the day.


However, it was East’s consistency that saw him take out the victory with the New South Welshman receiving no penalties throughout the day – a final stage penalty to Exell ultimately handing East the win.
 
Although the two state championship title contenders occupied the top two spots, the most dominant figure for the event was the fourth placed Corinne East-Johnstone after the multiple-time national champion won five stages overall.
 
Following Exell’s opening test win, East-Johnstone went on an impressive run and claimed a hattrick of test victories to charge into the lead.
 
Exell would then grab another test win himself before East-Johnstone extended her lead with a further two test wins.


Picking up a win on the eighth test was Christopher Allen, who was quite far down the order having been forced to withdraw from an earlier test, before East got his first and only minor win for the day on the ninth test.
 
The 10th and final test would prove the most decisive for the event, despite Allen getting his second win, with Exell hitting a flag and receiving a penalty, costing him the win as he fell behind East both overall and in Class F.
 
Floating under the radar for much of the event, Webb rounded out the podium and also guided his Leyland mini to top honours in Class A.


With Class F drivers East-Johnstone Matthew Allen making up the top five, the remaining top 10 featured a further four class winners, led by Bendigo Car Club local Brad Hall, who finished sixth and with the Class E victory.
 
Behind him in seventh was Class A winner James Neilsen, while Class C winner Nicholas Charrett and Class B victor Peter Panozzo finished eighth and ninth respectively ahead of Stephen Lanham, who took the final spot in the top 10 ahead of Chris Allen.
 
View the full results here.
 
The sixth round of the 2023 Motorsport Australia Victorian Motorkhana Championship season will be run by the Fiat Car Club Victoria and Winton Raceway on 6 August.