Before the lights turned off and James McFadden was crowned king of Borderline Speedway, the support categories put on some highly entertaining racing for the fans last Thursday night.
In addition to the 39 cars that battled around the “Bullring” for the 2022 Kings Challenge title, junior sedans and wingless sprints were the support acts in a jam-packed night of racing.
The wingless sprints were a new inclusion to the annual Kings Challenge event and raced for a fresh prize the SA v Victoria State of Origin.
Cross-border rivalries were the name of the game as eight South Australian drivers attempted to defend home turf from nine Victorian entrants.
Among the SA drivers racing for pride were locals Mitchell Broome, Kirby Hillyer and Rory Button desperate to perform in front of their friends and family.
But they had to overcome a strong contingent of Victorian stars and the visitors drew first blood as proceedings started with six heats.
Luke Storer dominated the opening heat beating fellow Victorian Blake Walsh by more than three seconds, while local Kirby Hillyer waved the local flag.
The locals hit back in the second heat with a strong Limestone Coast presence on the podium.
Mount Gambier’s Broome battled hard with the #S20 of Harley Alexander for the win, but fell half a second short.
The pair were closely followed by Button, who starved off the highest Victorian Geoff Cook.
The biggest cheer from the home crowd was heard in the third heat when they cheered on Hillyer to victory.
Driving the #S86, Hillyer stormed to a crushing win with a three second gap to runner-up Luke Weel.
Broome did his best to make it back-to-back Mount Gambier winners in the following heat, but luck was not on his side as locals finished second in each of the three final heats.
With the heats done and dusted, all eyes were on the A Main and which state would win the bragging rights.
All three Mount Gambier men had shown strong pace all night and had good reason to be confident of glory in the 20-lap race.
Hillyer started on the front row and got a lightning getaway to blitz into the lead.
However, his dream start was short lived as a three-car pileup at turn one brought out the red flag.
Robert Whiteside flew through the air, but was thankfully okay, while Nate Trewin and Sharni Pitcher were also caught up in the incident.
Hillyer regained control at the restart from Storer and the Mount Gambier man looked set for victory.
But a late-race caution pulled the pack together again and the result hinged on a four-lap sprint to the flag.
Once again Hillyer looked made for the moment and was on track for a home-town win, leading the pack into the last lap.
However, a slight mistake running half a car length wide on the final corner opened the door for Storer and the Victorian Castrol driver pounced to snatch the win in the dying moments.
Losing the race at the last corner was a bitter pill to swallow for Hillyer, while Broome and Button finished sixth and 11th respectively.
The Junior Sedans were the third and final event giving fans a glimpse of what the next generation has on offer.
Tanner Barclay and Jamie Oliver were the favourites having set the pace across the three heats.
However, they could do little, but watch on as Lachlan Robins charged through and took the honours.
Barclay was in the hunt until the end finishing second, while Henry Blumfield rounded out the podium as Oliver slipped to eighth.
