The Ford Mustang driver was fastest in qualifying and backed up to take the $1000 from Kubota in the Top 10 Shootout at Round 5 of the TFH Hire TA2 Muscle Cars framed by Hytek.

Although he led from the start and edged out a small gap over Gartner (Chev Camaro), he had to weather a late charge from the latter to win by 0.6s.

“Had a really good start, built up a margin, just need to work on the middle stages of the race. We also had a bit of a vibration that was distracting,” Haynes said.

Gartner negated the gap in the second half of the 10 lapper and put out a strong challenge on the penultimate lap.

“I just have to go harder in the first few laps as I always seem to be putting my fastest laps together in the second half,” lamented Gartner.

Third in his best result to date was Josh Thomas (Mustang) who maintained position throughout the race.

“The front two are a bit quicker than me but I was able to stick with them early. I pulled back after that and just really happy to get third,” he said.

Fourth place went to Mark Bailey (Camaro) who was challenged by Aaron Prosser (Mustang), eventually able to make the pass at Turn 3 but spun on the exit.

Bailey held off Mark Crutcher (Mustang), Graham Cheney (Camaro) who started 10th after a spin in the Shootout, and John Holinger (Camaro).

Des Collier (Mustang) finished eighth in from of Jason Pryde (Camaro) and his former Speedway teammate and debutant Robbie Farr (Camaro).

“We had a couple of test days, bit they wet ones and yesterday’s practice was not much better. I am happy to get a top 10,” Farr said.

He was followed by Domain Ramsay (Camaro), Brett Niall (Camaro), Danny Reidy (Camaro), Paul Hadley (Camaro), Cam Sendall (Mustang) and Steve Coulter (Mustang).

Hayden Jackson (Dodge Challenger) pitted briefly stuck in gear; Prosser also made a quick pit visit, while Steve Wilson (Camaro) was sidelined with a driveline issue.

The TFH Hire TA2 Muscle Cars will have three further races at Winton Motor Raceway on Sunday as part of the Hi-Tec Oils Super Series fifth round.