1998 Ballarat Begonia Rally

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Results and entry list
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The Ballarat Begonia Rally, organised by the Ballarat Light Car Club an directed by Joe Brick, was held on November 28.

Round 6 Victorian Rally Championship

With the cancellation of the Djerriwarrh Rally and the VRC yet to be decided, the Begonia Rally was resurrected as the final round. The Begonia had not run for four years, and almost did not run again, having calendared for November 14 and postponed for two weeks due to heavy rainfall. Even then, two stages were cancelled. The organisers’ efforts were rewarded with one of the largest VRC fields seen for some time, 57 entries of which 4 did not start.

With both Messer/Bruty and Morris Cole needing a win to clinch the championship, the pace was on from the start. Both Graeme Gambold / Chris Randell (Celica GT-four) and Mike Reeves / Paul Tirant (Lancer Evo 3) had turbo failure. Graham Alexander / David Stewart (Lancer) broke a disc calliper and strut while Brett Thomson /Rob Vanderee (Galant VR4) had no brakes. Simon and Sue Evans (Datsun 1600) had diff failure. The fight was down to the two VRC contenders with Morris / Cole taking the win (and the championship) by 24 seconds. The rising star, Scott Pedder, came in third just 12 second further back, a sign of things to come!

There was plenty of drama further down the field with the Group N and PR4 classes still to be decided.

Report by Stephen Dunbar

Results and entry list

Place	Driver	Co-driver	Car	Time	Novice
1	Craig Morris	Jenny Cole	Mitsubishi Gamant VR4	1:14:50
2	Phil Messer	Rachel Bruty	Mitsubishi Lancer GSR	1:15:14
3	Scott Pedder	Paul Humm	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo1	1:15:26
4	Mark Rodgers	Craig Rodgers	Subaru Legacy RS	1:16:56
5	Martin Grigg	Chris Tait	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo3	1:17:05
6	Steve Poore	Matt Birchall	Subaru Legacy RSR	1:17:27	1
7	Michael Morris	Geoff Floyd	Holden Commodore	1:17:57
8	David Nutter	Roslyn Martin	Subaru Impreza WRX	1:18:21
9	Rob Davis	Colin Elliott	Toyota Celica GT-four	1:18:24
10	Peter Evans	Kylie Evans	Nissan Pulsar GTi-R	1:18:54
11	Glen Cugley	Zara White	BMW M3	1:19:19
12	Brian Semmens	David Leoncini	Toyota Corolla TE37	1:20:04
13	Mark Pedder	Brian Asher	Holden Ute	1:20:47
14	Murray Rogers	Graeme Orr	Toyota Sprinter	1:20:51
15	Glenn Secomb	Tony Borg	Honda Civic	1:20:57
16	Mark Roberts	Simon Ellis	Datsun 1600	1:21:04
17	Andrew Pannam	Peter Mignot	Datsun 1600	1:21:46
18	Chris Walters	Janine Schneiders	Holden Commodore	1:22:18
19	Brett Comber	Graham Comber	Ford Escort Mk2	1:22:32	2
20	Barrie Crocker	Robert Coylo	Subaru Legacy	1:23:05
21	Darren Crozier	Sue McCready	Isuzu Gemini	1:23:23
22	Neil Pollard	Ben Campbell	Datsun 1600	1:23:35	3
23	Craig Lee	Rob Beekman	Holden Ute	1:23:53
24	Adam Wilson	Penny Swan	Toyota Celica RA40	1:24:33
25	Shawn Urquart	Robert Stevenson	Datsun 1600	1:24:38	4
26	Jeff Cameron	Paul Parlevliet	Datsun Stanza SSS	1:25:03	5
27	Ross Stapleton	David Johns	Toyota Sprinter	1:25:06
28	Sam Vaughan	Greg Foletta	Suzuki Swift	1:25:10
29	Richard Fung	Brendan Clough	Toyota Corolla AE82	1:26:36
30	Peter Montgomery	Chris Montgomery	Datsun 120Y	1:27:27	6
31	Dale Baxter	Stephen May	Toyota Corolla KE20	1:28:06	7
32	Tom Quill	Dave Gallacher	Datsun 240Z	1:28:19
33	Russell Hocking	Susan Brick	Datsun 120Y	1:29:21
34	Alan How	Cindy How	BMW 2002	1:30:10	8
35	David Stewart	Michael Holloway	Ford Falcon XR6	1:32:05	9
36	Carl Brewer	Paul Gregory	Mazda 323	1:34:02	10
37	Andrew Martin	David Brown	Mitsubishi Sigma	1:36:07
38	Stephen Raymond	David McLean	Toyota Corolla KE30	1:36:09
39	Clare Campbell	Bruce Campbell	Mitsubishi Galant VR4	1:37:26
40	Allister Knight	Kain Manning	Mazda 323 Familia	1:37:47

Detailed results

Route

The event was conducted over 12 special stages totalling 108.61 km, but SS9 and SS10 were cancelled.

Official Schedule

Itinerary and Stage plots

1998 Ballarat Begonia Rally

Round 6 Victorian Rally Championship

Results and entry list

Route

Other event documents