The Melton Motor Sports Club has successfully held its inaugural Melbourne Challenge with around 45 entries competing in the three-discipline event.
 
Taking place at the Bacchus Marsh Motorsport Park, there were three separate competitions open to participants with a motorkhana and autocross on Saturday and a rallysprint on Sunday.
 
The autocross had the biggest turnout with 34 entries having eight runs across the day and their fastest three attempts contributing to an overall outright time.
 
Taking out top spot was the number one seed in Brad Hall – the Subaru WRX pilot claiming the fastest time on the majority runs and picking up a three and half second win over Patrick Malanaphy in the Yacar Cross.
 
Rounding out the podium was Pat Meehan, who was 14 and half seconds off Malanaphy.
 
Unlike the other top three, Hall also took part in the motorkhana at the same time, but couldn’t replicate his success there as he finished eighth out of 15 competitors.


Taking out the victory for the motorkhana was another driver who was doing both competitions in Steve Marrone.
 
Marrone dominated the day and steered his Mitsubishi Galant to all four test wins, coming away with an outright 12 second victory over another driver doing double duties in Matthew Caldwell, while Stuart Reid, who was competing in just the motorkhana, finished third almost 18 seconds behind.
 
On Sunday, the rallysprint saw 19 crews made up of drivers and co-drivers get six runs of the course with each time adding up to a final score.
 
Once again, Hall was able to claim the victory, only this time it was far closer as he and co-driver Michael Osborne only just beat the second placed crew of Tony Stokes and Peter Tomaskovic.
 
Although it was close, Hall and Osborne went faster on all six runs – their most dominant being on the opening two stages.
 
Finishing in third almost two minutes behind the leader were Peugeot pilots Graham Wallis and Callom O'Callaghan.
 
Another notable result from the weekend was that of junior driver Joon Cashmere, who was competing in his first ever event.
 
The 16-year-old had very little experience in the car in the lead up to the event but showed plenty of talent both behind the wheel and in the co-driver’s seat.
 
Making the event even more special for the teenager was having highly respected rally co-driver Joe Brkic sitting in the car with him and giving him advice.
 
While the young rally prospect was unable to make too much of an impact on the timesheet, he was still quite impressive and thoroughly enjoyed the day.


“It was my first ever event and I had such a good day. Everyone was so nice and helpful and having Joe sitting next to me was really cool,” Cashmere said.
 
“I know the club’s goal for the event was to help people transition into rally and I would say that in regards to me, they certainly succeeded because I am really keen to get into rallying now.
 
“I have always wanted to do something in motorsport, but it can be quite expensive. That’s why these introductory events are really good at getting you interested, because I am hooked right now.
 
“Even though it was my first time, I got comfortable as the day went on and I learnt some really important things like how to do a proper handbrake turn on gravel.
 
“I got so much out of the day and got to experience both driving and co-driving, so I think I will do co-driving until I am 18 and then eventually move into driving when I can.
 
“A big thank you to the club for putting on such an enjoyable day and I can’t wait to see where this new chapter goes.”
 
For full results from the weekend, click here.