The new summer of speedway enjoyed a majestic start with some exciting racing taking place under glorious skies at Borderline on Saturday night.

In a meeting which also featured Formula 500’s and Street Stocks, Matt Egel received all the applause after he claimed the opening round of the Eureka Garages and Sheds Sprintcar Series.

In addition to being the first night of racing at the Mount Gambier venue in seven months, expectations were at fever pitch with the return of Victorian stars in a bolstered sprintcar field.

The 26 nominated entries included the long-awaited comeback of Steven Lines after almost two years on the sidelines plus seven Victorian cars which were welcomed with open arms.

The green flag dropped under cloudless skies and action was also hot on the abrasive track surface.

Egel rolled out of the truck with hot pace in the heats, while Brad Keller had high hopes from the front row, but found himself spinning 180-degrees on the back straight and was collected by Joel Heinrich.

More incidents followed as the night of local hope Glen Sutherland ended early following a massive rollover on the entry to turn three which left the Gambier Earth Movers #S20 worse for wear.

After the chaotic heats the stage was set for an exciting 25-lap A Main, but everyone’s excitement had to be settled after a false start.

When racing eventually got under way, Luke Dillon got the better jump off the start line against poleman Egel which ignited a race-long battle for the win.

However, only one lap was possible before Max Vidau started facing the wrong way at turn one.

Dillon perfected the restart and established a big gap to Ryan Jones, while Egel and the speedy Lisa Walker were in an arms race for third.

Once Egel outmuscled Walker, the #S52 came into its own in the middle laps as he maximised the high line to soar to second and close in on leader Dillon, whose advantage disappeared in a flash due to lapped traffic.

After a couple of laps of studying the #S81 rear wing, Egel made his move swooping around the outside of the final corner.

With 10 laps to go and the fastest car finally in front, all roads led to a comfortable Egel win, but the script was far from simple.

As the laps counted down Egel encountered more and more lapped traffic and a roadblock in the form of Mark Caruso allowed Dillon to breeze by.

With two laps left a thrilling sprint to the finish was on and Egel enjoyed a lightning exit from the second turn and powered past Dillon down the back straight to retake the lead.

After a stunning battle Egel took the chequered flag ahead of Dillon, Jones, Grant Stansfield and Corey McCullagh, while Walker snuck past Daniel Pestka in a photo finish.

The #S52 driver was overjoyed to continue his golden start to the 2021-22 season after overcoming a bumpy track surface.

“We have had an absolute dream run to start the season,” he said.

“I have not been off the podium yet this season and this was my fifth win in seven races.

“It is always nice to come to Borderline because there is always some good racing on a technical and demanding track.

“There were decent grooves because the track had a lot of moisture in it, so you had to hit your marks right otherwise you could have lost control which almost happened a few times.

“You just had to free the car and stiffen the bars up and make sure if I did hit those ruts, I kept it straight.”

A feature of Egel’s victorious night was his speed on the high line and he said it was a simple matter of comfort to execute the winning move after a big scare.

“I just felt comfortable up there and not on the bottom,” he said.

“It worked well because I pretty much had my own track with everyone else running bottom to mid.

“I just had a couple of lapped cars which ruined my run and Luke got me.

“I thought the race was gone then because I figured he watched where I was, but luckily we got him back down the straight.”

Egel could not put his finger on why he has been so fast at the start of the season, but was full of praise for his team.

“I just think it definitely helps when your confidence is up as a driver and I have an awesome team behind me,” he said.

“The Brown family and Whyalla Earthworks have given me all the equipment I need and trust what I do, so I can’t thank them enough.”

The second round of the MJS Street Stocks Series was all about local runner Anthony Beare.

The pink #S46 Holden VF Commodore was an untouchable figure for the 26-car field.

Beare’s domination was evident in the opening heat where he stunned the crowd with an incredible drive.

Having started last on the eight-car grid, Beare tore the field to shreds and soared his way up to second place before the opening lap was completed.

His stunning surge was completed on lap two when he took the lead and drove off into the distance.

Beare started the feature race on pole and controlled every lap.

From the moment the green flag dropped it was a race for second which went to Carey Weston ahead of Nigel Reichstin, while there were many casualties including Aaron Tyler and Wade Fell who got tangled up in a heat and marshals took 15 minutes to separate the cars.

The Formula 500’s also entertained after it took the field three goes to get racing under way.

Eventually Angelo Karoussis was the winner, while Brendan Zadow and Jordan Rae completed the podium.