South Australian Luke Dillon captured the A-Main tonight on the opening night of the 2016 Australian 360ci Sprintcar Championship at the Borderline Speedway in Mount Gambier. After top qualifying for the 18 lap preliminary final Dillon led the entire journey but he chased all the way by talented Victorian youngster Dion Bellman with former Australian Champion Chad Ely rounding out the top three after a spirited race long battle with Jake Tranter.

Unfortunately for Tranter he was relegated back to seventh within sight of the chequered flag as he was involved in a last corner tangle that resulted in Tranter crossing the transponder line sideways and on the infield. This elevated veteran racer Matthew Reed to fourth with Western Australian Cameron Gessner completing the top five.

Sixth place went to an impressive Dan Evans with Tranter, Brad Warren, Jack Lee and Tregan Gates rounding out the top 10.

The only caution of the race occurred at the mid race point when Phil Lock spun and collected the turn one wall. Western Australian Aldo De Paoli also failed to finish after contact with Tony Moule resulted in a bleed off failure sending the W96 onto the infield with a flat tyre.

Earlier six heat races were run with a number of drivers causing substantial damage to their race cars with several big accidents. Domain Ramsay, Ben Atkinson and Eddie Lumbar all had big crashes with Atkinson, the current Australian #2, requiring a new car for tomorrow night.

The heat winners on the night were Dion Bellman, Aldo De Paoli, Jimmy Gardiner, Tregan Gates, Robert Watson Jr and Luke Dillon.

The Australian 360ci Sprintcar Championship continues tomorrow night at the Borderline Speedway in Mount Gambier.