STEVEN Lines’ love affair with Premier Speedway continued when he clinched round four of the Sprintcar Racing Association of Victoria (SRA) series.
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The Mount Gambier gun claimed a start-to-finish victory in the A main on Saturday night in a meeting of high drama at the Allansford track.
The twin-feature show became a 30-lap, $5000-to-win single feature after Corey McCullagh’s spectacular lap-one crash in the B main sparked a lengthy delay.
McCullagh clipped the wheel of Eddie Lumbar in turn three as red lights came on, flipping his car and damaging a catch fence pole in the process.
The former go-kart driver walked away uninjured, but the crash left the fence needing repairs, forcing officials to scrap the second feature due to time constraints.
Lines was unstoppable when the A main finally got under way. He seized the lead early and was never headed, despite the best efforts of Kyle Hirst.
Californian Hirst finished runner-up while South Australian Daniel Pestka was third. Ian Madsen, Darren Mollenoyux and James Hennessy were next home. Lines said the win was “exactly what we needed going into a busy period over Speedweek”.
He also claimed round two of the SRA series but had otherwise endured a frustrating start, wrecking a car at Murray Bridge seven days earlier.
“It’s obviously nice to get the car up the front and get a bit of speed back in there,” he said. “We’ll keep trying over the next period here. Back into Speedweek next. It’s going to be a tough week. It’s actually going to be a tough month coming up.
“I’m looking forward to it. It’s a good time. You stay in the car and try and do as many laps as you can. We can only do the best we can.”
Lines put the up-and-down start to trying different things chasing success in “all the big shows really. We’re trying to go a bit better”.
“Everything lined up (tonight). We got all our cars back together where we need them. We got a new car tonight, running another motor,” he said.
He said the win would give him confidence for upcoming meetings at Premier Speedway.
Sprintcars are in action again on January 1 and 2 as well as for the 43rd Lucas Oil Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic on January 23 to 25.
“You want to get some car speed up and get some confidence so you know you can run up there,” he said.
“We’ve got every opportunity. We’ve got to just make it happen.”
Lines qualified fourth fastest, won his first heat and rose from 11th to fifth in the second to be off pole, from Hirst, James McFadden and Robbie Farr.
The front-row start proved its worth when Farr, squeezed for space by Hirst in the front straight on lap seven, hit the wall and flipped. McFadden and defending SRA champion Shaun Dobson were collateral damage while Stephen Bell and Jamie Veal soon joined them on the infield.
Lines was untroubled from the restart, however, with the performance sounding an ominous warning about what could be in store in weeks to come.
afawkes@fairfaxmedia.com.au