American drivers dominated the first night of the 51st Grand Annual Sprint Car Classic at Premier Speedway, Warrnambool.
Aaron Reutzel claimed the 30-lap A main, winning the race from Chase Randall, Rico Abreu and Cory Eliason. They were followed to the checkered flag by defending Classic winner, Brock Hallett and Cameron Waters.
Starting from position three, Reutzel was aided by the track, as it exhibited a hard-to-pass character during the heat races.
Randall repeated his form from the night before in the Kings Challenge at Borderline Speedway where he had led the A-main until sidelined. Starting from position 9, he was able to negotiate the field in the Flying Horse Bar and Brewery feature, as did Abreu from position 14 on the grid.
There were a number of causalities of crashes during the night. Fancied local Jamie Veal was out of the A main after 17 laps.
With half the field racing on the first night of competition and the other half the second night, each evening featured time trials, heats and a C, B and A main.
Courtesy of his win, Reutzel, driving the Mega Cash entry, locked himself on the front row of the Gold Scramble on Sunday night. The top points scorers from each night transfer to racing on the final night of the Classic.