Mollenoyux will head to the Mount Gambier track for round three of World Series Sprintcars, having endured a frustrating night at Avalon on Thursday.

The Warrnambool driver was leading the A main, part of round six of the Sprintcar Racing Association (SRA) of Victoria series, when he got caught behind Adam King.

King was running near the back 20 laps into the 30-lap feature when he spun in front of Mollenoyux, who clipped him and rolled spectacularly.

Mollenoyux told The Standard the crash, which he described as a “racing incident”, had damaged a top wing, a nerf bar and a few bolt-on bits.

“That’s racing, as they say,” he said.

“We’ve been unlucky. We had a car good enough to win but we got caught up with a lap car.

“Everyone makes mistakes. He spun out and I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. You can’t place too much blame, it’s just one of those things.

“(The car) was really good. We took the lead on that lap right before the lap car spun. It would’ve been an interesting last 10 laps but we’ll never know.”

Mollenoyux said the crash was more frustrating because it happened at Avalon, where he is attempting to win the track championship.

His bad luck on Thursday compounded finishing seventh in the B main in round four at the same track, one place out of the transfers.

“We chose not to do the (SRA Victoria) series this year, so the points side doesn’t worry us,” he said.

“But we were trying to commit to the Avalon track championship and we’ve had two rounds out now, so we’re out of contention for that.

“There are still plenty of meetings but you’d have to have a really good rest of the year to make up for dropping two rounds.”

Tasmanian hard charger Shaun Dobson won the A main ahead of Melbourne’s Brett Milburn, Albury’s Grant Anderson and Warrnambool’s Stephen Bell.

Dubbo driver Jeremy Cross, who finished fifth, retained the series lead with 1733 points. Dobson (1504) and Milburn (1483) are the chasers.

n  Steven Lines’ charmed season continued at Speedway City in Adelaide on Thursday night when he won round one of World Series Sprintcars.

The win was his ninth of a near-flawless campaign. The Mount Gambier driver finished the 35-lap feature ahead of Brad Keller and Brooke Tatnell.

Lines said the win came despite engine troubles with more than 10 laps remaining.

“We just hurt a valve, broke a valve spring. Nothing major, just a mechanical failure,” he said.

“The last few laps it was hurting a little but but we were still good enough to get the win.”

Lines credited his team, including car owner Brian Hall, for his success to start the season.

“We’ve been working a bit in the off-season trying to get it all ready and everything is starting to pay off,” he said.

“Brian has done a lot of things. All the guys who are helping us have been chipping away at what they do.”

Round two of World Series Sprintcars was at Murray Bridge Speedway last night, with a result unavailable before The Standard went to print.

n  More than 40 formula 500 drivers will start in round one of Speedweek at Borderline Speedway tonight.

The seven-round series continues at Hamilton tomorrow night, before hitting Allansford’s Premier Speedway on January 1.