By Trevor Jackson
SPEEDWAY fans would not have been disappointed with the opening night of the Borderline Speedway on Saturday.
With Sprintcars heading the card, spectators were also treated to Street Stocks and Formula 500s, with no shortage of action.
The 25-lap A Main feature for the Sprintcars went to Matt Egel after an impressive drive from pole position.
However, he had to work for the accolades, with a jumped start forcing the caution and another shot off the line.
Second time around Luke Dillon made the best of the start, with Egel then forced to play catch up.
It took some time, as Egel dropped back down a few positions and after a restart from a few spinning cars, set out to chase Lisa Walker for third position.
Once she was dispatched Egel chased down Ryan Jones, with Dillon out in front.
Sitting behind Jones for a few laps, Egel weighed up his options, then with a slight mistake from Jones he pounced and then had Dillon in his sights.
Egel made a strong pass for the lead but Dillon was not done, staying in touch then through lapped traffic managed to put two cars between him and Egel.
But that was short lived as Egel again hit the front as the white flag was shown and held on for the final lap to claim the win.
Best of the Limestone Coast brigade was Daniel Petska in the Starks car out of Port MacDonnell with seventh place, while Mount Gambier Sprintcar legend Steven Lines made a return to racing and showed why he is a former World Series Sprintcars champion with his eighth place.
Petska came from eighth on the grid, while Lines moved up from 10th.
Earlier in the night qualifying went to Dillon with a fast 10.832-second lap.
Lines clocked an 11.401 for fifth place, while Pestka was eighth fastest with an 11.020.
In the opning heat Dillon was on the pace with a win from Jordyn Charge and Adam King, with Pestka down in fifth from second on the grid.
Heat 2 went to Jones from Brock Hallett and Corey McCullagh, with Lines in fifth.
Egel finished second behind Steven Caruson in Heat 3, with Glen Sutherland in third, while in Heat 4 Walker showed her hand with a win from Paul Solomon and Limestone Coast driver Scott Enderl.
Lines managed a third place in the final heat.
But it was the sheer pace of the front runners in the A Main feature which set the crowd alight, with just one disruption and plenty of action throughout the field.
In the support categories, the Formula 500 feature race went to Angelo Karoussis, from Brendan Zadow and Jordan Rae.
Mount Gambier’s Anthony Beare claimed the Streets Stocks feature from Carey Weston and Nigel Reichstein.
The next night of racing at the Borderline Speedway will see the South Australian Wingless Sprint title with Limited Sportsman on December 11.
