MOUNT Gambier’s Mark Jennings claimed a classic Street Stock victory on Saturday night at the Borderline Speedway, after a tough fight with fellow Limestone Coast driver Anthony Beare.
The pair were joined by Jason Duell on the first three rows of the grid in the A Main final and put on a show to the delight of spectators.
The night was all about the 50th anniversary of speedway sedans in Australia and the final lived up to expectations.
The night kicked off with a grand parade, with the Street Stocks, Super Sedans, Junior Sedans and Classic Sedans all gracing the circuit together, as used to be the case in years gone by.
The MJS Street Stocks series headlined the night and the format saw the race run in two sections, with 15 laps in one direction, before drivers headed the other way for the final 15 laps.
The big field saw a scuffle on the opening lap, which caused a full restart.
Jennings led after the green flag, with Beare soon up to third and closing in on Rhys Heinrich.
With eight laps to go in the opening section a caution bunched the field back up, with Jennings holding the lead from Heinrich and Beare.
Corey Sandow entered the contest and passed Bear for third place, but the reigning Australian champion returned serve and went to the half-time change still in third.
Jennings led the pack from the second-half restart ahead of Heinrich and Beare.
Duell looked to move up a spot, but had his hands full with Brad McClure, eventually falling back.
Heinrich challenged Jennings, but could not make the pass, with the Mount Gambier driver holding his composure.
As the laps wound down Jennings remained in control, when Heinrich hit the wall and gave Beare a way past.
Beare then faced a tough Jennings at the head of the pack, with the two pushing the limits of the track and the machinery.
With just a handful of laps remaining, slower traffic came into play, but the two leaders simply cut their way through.
On the final lap Beare looked down the inside of Jennings on turn two and almost brought the pair undone, losing ground in the attempt.
However, both held on and Jennings claimed the honours.
McClure crossed the line in third, while Sandow finished in fourth place.
The hard-luck award went to Lewis Clark, who staged a dramatic roll over in front of the corporate boxes, after clipping a tractor tyre on the inside of the track with his front wheel, which was enough to flip the car and roll several times.
Clark emerged unscathed, but his car suffered from the incident.
The Junior Sedans saw some solid racing throughout the heats and the main event, with Penola’s Brad Gartner claiming the overall honours, ahead of Jye Irving and Drew Flatman.
Gartner was a clear fast runner throughout the night, with the final result fitting.
The Super Sedans saw the state number one Dave Gartner with a some tough competition in Ryan Alexander.
The pair went head-to-head throughout the night, with Alexander matching it with Gartner at every turn.
In the end he did enough to claim the win in the feature race, ahead of Kym Dury and Lucas Roberts.
Gartner suffered from a mechanical issue in the feature.
