THREE-time champion Brooke Tatnell's quest for a fourth Lucas Oil Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic is on track after taking the opening night honours at Allansford's Premier Speedway.
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Tatnell, who started the 30-lap final from position three, took the lead from top points scorer Ian Madsen on lap eight and was never challenged in the non-stop race.
Tatnell finished ahead of Madsen while 2012 Classic winner Ian Loudoun was third on Friday night. Warrnambool's Darren Mollenoyux was fourth while another local, one of the pre-race favourites, Jamie Veal, was the talk of the track after finishing fifth.
Tatnell was delighted to claim victory in front of 6500 fans.
"They are never easy," Tatnell said after the win, which appeared comfortable.
"When you have a car that good and easy to drive, it does make the monkey's job behind the wheel a lot easier.
"You could have put any of the top 20 drivers here in that car and they would have got the same result."
In a warning to his rivals, Tatnell revealed he could go quicker.
"We did it at eight tenths," he said.
Tatnell said he conserved rubber yet was still able to pass rivals at the start.
"We have a lot in reserve," he said.
While Tatnell was pleased to claim victory at a track where his late father George never had any luck, he said it had taken him years to win over the back-straight crowd.
He admitted to thinking of his Dad when he tore down the back straight.
He is confident of doing well when his campaign resumes on Sunday night but he is concerned he and the field from Friday night will be behind the eight-ball after Saturday night's racing.
The track blackened off after time trials and by the second round of heats, drivers were unable to pass. That meant drivers like Tatnell and Veal, who had front and then back row starts, were at a points disadvantage should Saturday night's track be more conducive to passing.
"The second round of heats when it took rubber will hurt everyone come Sunday," Tatnell said.
"If it opens up (Saturday) and if they can go from 12th to fifth or fourth in their heats like we see at the Classic, we are going to lose a lot of points.
"But we've done the best we could. 40-laps, we are looking forward to it (on Sunday)."
Veal, who won the B-main to get a start in the final, tore through the field after starting from position 17 in an eye-catching run.
It was the drive of the night but it was only made possible after a track makeover following the heat racing.
Veal was pleased with his blistering run.
"We had to," he said.
"It was one of those nights, both heats we had we couldn't pass much, lost a lot of points.
"We had a good time to start the night off with (10th), just second and ninth we couldn't cut it in the heats. We did it the hard way, run all the way from the B-main, put a lot of laps in. But that's good speed going into Sunday night. At least we know we can start from the back and move forward."
Veal fears the track conditions will leave him in a tough position come Sunday night.
"Fifth is all right but the amount of points we've got, it's not going to rank us up that high...we'll probably be 30th overall, maybe 35th. We had good car speed at the end there, just got to do that Sunday night."
He said running the B main had been a blessing in disguise.
"We got a little bit of an idea (about the track), we made a few changes and they worked great," Veal said.
"The car, I could move it around anywhere."
The feature capped a dramatic night which saw defending champion, Californian Tim Kaeding's campaign prematurely ended. Kaeding was taken to hospital for precautionary reasons with a neck injury after hitting the wall in his second heat.
A-main results, night one
1. Brooke Tanell (3)
2. Ian Madsen (2)
3. Ian Loudoun (7)
4. Darren Mollenoyux (8)
5. Jamie Veal (17)
6. Daniel Pestka (5)
7. Robbie Farr (6)
8. Lucas Wolfe (10)
9. Trevor Green (12)
10. Tim Rankin (4)
11. Christopher Bell (15)
12. Callum Zizek (1)
13. Terry McCarl (9)
14. Brad Sweet (16)
15. Jackson Delamont (11)
16. Brad Keller (13)
17. Danny Holtgraver (19)
18. Chad Ely (14)
19. John Vogels (18)
20. James Hennessy (20)
*position in brackets represents starting positions. Madsen was top points scorer and elected to start from position 2.
Points after night one
1. Ian Madsen 512
2. Brooke Tatnell 500
3. Callum Zizek 484
4. Tim Rankin 478
5. Daniel Pestka 476
6. Ian Loudoun 476
7. Darren Mollenoyux 474
8. Robbie Farr 468
9. Lucas Wolfe 462
10. Trevor Green 458
11. Terry McCarl 454
12. Jackson Delamont 448
13. Jamie Veal 442
14. Christopher Bell 436
15. Bradley Keller 430
16. Brad Sweet 428
17. Chad Ely 422
18. John Vogels 416
19. Jordyn Brazier 406
20. Danny Holtgraver 402
21. Jamie Hennessy 392
22. Peter Lack 388
23. James McFadden 380
24. Glen Saville 380
25. Corey McCullagh 378
26. Matt Egel 378
27. Quentin Tanner 372
28. Matthew Dumensy 354
29. Ricky Maiolo 346
30. Bradley Warren 338
31. Brendan Balcombe 336
32. Stephen Bell 332
33. Kristy Ellis 326
34. Daryl Clayden 318
35. Keke Falland 308
36. Scott Reilly 306
37. Mark House 300
38. Adam King 292
39. Daniel Harding 290
40. Eddie Lumbar 286
41. Phil Lock 286
42. Tim Kaeding 280
43. Domain Ramsay 278
44. Kris Lacey 272
45. Peter Doukas 272
46. Ben Atkinson 268
47. Andy Caruana 266
48. Jay Waugh 262
49. Paul Morris 240
50. Rhiannon Burleigh 226
51. Scott Bogucki 194
52. Darren Hickman 118
53. Ron Dalton 112
