IN an action-packed night of racing, the Borderline Speedway turned it on for a good opening-night crowd on Saturday, with sprintcars, junior sedans and the Formula 500 South Australian Championships.
The revamped grounds looked a picture and the new racing surface held up to the rigours of the night, while the weather played its part, with cool, dry conditions conducive to good racing and a pleasant time for spectators.
Round 4 of the SRA sprintcars headlined the night and it was the James McFadden show.
McFadden dominated the A Main feature, with Mount Gambier’s Glen Sutherland following Jamie Veal home for a hard-fought third place, while Steven Lines managed an equally tough fifth place.
McFadden set the agenda after starting from first on the grid in the second heat of the night, showing a clean pair of heels to Brayden Parr and Daniel Pestka.
Heat three saw Sutherland line up from second on the grid, with Lines in fifth.
Sutherland made his presence felt with a heat win, while Lines had to settle for fifth behind Corey McCullagh, Tim Van Ginneken and Matt Egel.
In heat four Veal showed his class, going from first on the grid to claim the win.
With the grid reversed in heat six, McFadden fought his way through from last to fourth place.
Veal fought through from 10th to third in the following run, while Sutherland struggled, making up just two positions to finish seventh.
In heat eight Lines managed to pick up four positions, from sixth to second, with the A Main seeing Veal on pole from McFadden, McCullagh ahead of fourth placed Sutherland and Lines down in 12th.
McFadden showed he meant business, with good starts early after accidents halted the race.
After those couple of early accidents, he then took a wide, high line around turn one on the restart and was never really troubled from there.
But further down the pack the battles were on in earnest, with Sutherland and McCullagh going head-to-head, while Lines worked his way through the field that was somewhat diminished from the early carnage, finding himself in a robust battle with Rusty Hickman, who had started out of sixth place.
Meanwhile Sutherland and McCullagh continued to entertain the crowd, with Lines closing in.
With just a few laps remaining, McCullagh took third place from Sutherland, but the latter returned serve the next lap, to hold on for the final spot on the podium, while Lines held off Hickman for his fifth place.
As usual, McFadden was a popular winner, with the crowd appreciating Sutherland’s efforts as he builds towards the World Series Sprintcars season with his striking new livery on the car.
A highlight of the night was the presentation of the venue, with the new surrounds providing plenty of space for spectators.
With big fields in both the sprintcars and the Forummla 500s, the race surface held up well, requiring nothing more than the usual rolling throughout the night, with the efforts of volunteers leading up to the night paying dividends.
With more sprintcars events on the calendar before the running of the Australian championships in January, all looks good for a big season of racing.
