Bordertown's Dylan Jenkin has claimed the opening round of the QSS SA Sprintcar Shootout Series after a very entertaining final at Murray Machining & Sheds Murray Bridge Speedway last night. In a night full of drama right from the outset several of the fancied contenders failed to live up to expectations and fell by the wayside.

The night began with six heats which were taken out by Brad Keller, Ryan Jones, Jamie Cobby, Dylan Jenkin, Darren Mollenoyux and Steven Caruso. It was in the first bracket of heats where we saw two of the pre-race favourites in Matt Egel & Daniel Pestka involved in a crash after contact as Egel was going to lap Pestka with the latter having power steering issues. Egel none too pleased about the incident. The safety fence was also in need of some TLC after that one. Others to endure bad luck in the heats were other contenders Steven Lines & Brad Keller. Leith Ahlfors also suffered bad luck with an engine fire in Heat 2. With several big names not finishing heat races the B Main was going to be full on to see if they could make the top 4 and transfer into the all-important final.

The B Main got as far as turn 3 when Keller looped the #19 machine leaving the likes of Lines and Vanderstelt with nowhere to go forcing enough damage on all three machines to be out on the restart. The one to watch was Egel as he started off seven and eventually was in a transfer spot until a right rear tyre went down bringing out the yellows ending a forgettable night for the Egel race team. The B Main transferees were the Pitt Brothers Terry and Hayden with the latter in the newly numbered #7 machine, Leith Ahlfors and Luke Bowey in the Gawler Car World #55.

With the time getting away the A Main was bought straight out and with no four wide salute it was time to get dirty for thirty. With the order being Steve Caruso, Jenkin, Cobby, Mollenoyux, an impressive effort from Glen Sutherland, Luke Dillon in the Downing Bros #97 who was just hanging in there, Jones, Brendan Quinn, Bogucki, Mark Caruso, Dobson, Pestka, Keke Falland and in his first race in a couple seasons Justin Sloan #25, they would be joined by the B Main transferees.

The initial flyer in the pack was Mollenoyux who leapt to the front quickly from his 4th place starting spot while Jones from 7th was also into the top 4. It was Mollenoyux from Jenkin, Steven Caruso and Jones was the top four for the first couple of laps with Jones moving into second briefly with 26 to go when all hell broke loose at the back of the pack that took out Sloan, Hayden Pitt, Ahlfors, Dobson and while Luke Bowey was involved he managed to get a restart albeit at the rear.

The restart order was the same with Mollenoyux again opening up a gap over second and third with Jones and Jenkin having a real good battle and this is where all the action was with several slide jobs being made. The battle for the minors was straight forward as passing was at a premium on a very slick race track. The half way mark was up and the reds were on again as Brendan Quinn and Sutherland made contact into turn 3 with Quinn landing upside down.

The restart order with 14 to go was Mollenoyux, Jenkin, Jones, Steve Caruso, Cobby, Bogucki and Luke Dillon rounding out the top 7. As it was getting to the pointy end of the race it was hotting up at the front with the top 3 very close together with Jones making an inside pass on Jenkin only to loop the #63 machine thankfully he kept it mobile but he has dropped back to 6th place. Dillon was looking as the one to watch until he spun the Downing Bros #97 entry in turn two he would have to go to the rear.

With 11 to go the order up the front had not changed but the movers were Bogucki who started 9th and was up to 4th while Mark Caruso who started 10th was up to 5th. The Caruso boys were having a good first night out.

With just five laps to go it looked like Mollenoyux would take the win until Jenkin came on like gangbusters with 3 remaining and was side by side with the Warrnambool steerer coming onto the back straight and pulled off a great pass on the outside to take the lead. They call it perfect timing as Jenkin would record his first 410 win in SA over a very unlucky Mollenoyux and an impressive Steven Caruso with Scott Bogucki, Mark Caruso, Ryan Jones, Jamie Cobby, Terry Pitt, Luke Dillon, Glen Sutherland and Keke Falland rounding out the finishers.

As it was the first round of the new QSS Shootout Series there were several award winners on the night for the contracted drivers and they were:
HOOSIER Award - Matt Egel - Rapiti Earthworks #29
LUCKY Sevens - Keke Falland - Shadetec #78
Highest Heat Points - Steve Caruso - Santek Machining #10
Hard Luck Award - Terry Pitt - OPR Shocks #8