James Inglis scored victory in the A main feature on night one of the 61st Australian Sprint Car Championship at Premier Speedway, Warrnambool.
Inglis and Brock Hallett dueled early until Inglis drew clear in his DeVil Race Parts/Diamond Bay Motorsports entry with defending champion Jock Goodyer in third.
With 16 laps to run, Goodyer slipped under Hallet as Inglis continued to run the high line until encountering slower traffic.
Earlier, Cameron Waters failed to start, suffering a steering problem as the field was assembling. With six laps remaining, James McFadden clipped the wall on turn three, ending his chances of moving through the field.
The Western Australian driver maintained his lead over a fast finishing Goodyer to claim the Locked Down feature.
The place getters were followed home by Lachlan McHugh, Jamie Veal, Marcus Dumesny, Alex Orr and Callum Williamson.
Heat Race Recap
The 14 heats favoured the cars from the front of the grid on a mostly one lane track.
The first seven heat winners were Kristy Coyle, Matthew Butler, Matt Dumesny, Brett Milburn, Bobby Daly, Brock Hallett and Kerry Madsen. Luke Oldfield raced away with the next heat after a number of stoppages including a big barrel roll by Luke Thomas in the back straight and Jy Corbett riding the wheel of another car.
James Inglis led from flag to flash in the next heat, while Cam Waters led from pole to win in the McQuinn/ Electrical/ GTS Freight Management entry. Jamie Veal in the SWI/Monte car defeated Jordan Charge from the front row.
Callum Williamson Mobil 1/ Avalon Group outpaced McFadden from start.
McFadden later spun to avoid another car, but raced back to fourth after restart.
Starting from position two, Jock Goodyer in the Daniel Trucking entry, outpaced Hallet on pole to win the penultimate heat.
Alex Orr claimed the final qualifier.
The Australian Championship final will be contested tonight at Premier Speedway.