The sixth and final round of the TFH Hire TA2 Muscle Cars headed the Hi-Tec Oils Super Series at the rejuvenated NSW Southern Highlands circuit, formerly known as Wakefield Park.

Haynes (Ford Mustang) won the 15-lap race by 3.0s over Sam Bates (Mustang) with Zach Loscialpo (Chev Camaro) third.

“It’s still early days, we have three more races tomorrow but it’s super exciting to win in front of my home crowd and sponsors. It’s going to be good racing tomorrow and I am really looking forward to it,” said Haynes.

In qualifying Brad Gartner (Chev Camaro) was quickest be a 1.0s over Haynes, whereas in the Top 8 Shootout, it was Haynes who took pole position ahead of Gartner.

While Haynes fled away at the start, Gartner struggled to select second gear and slumped down the order. He was lucky to miss being embroiled in an incident at Turn 4.

Aaron Prosser had a rotation in his in his Mustang and had contact with Danny Reidy’s Camaro. Gartner drove around and through a blinding dust plume to avoid the melee while his teammate Robbie Farr pulled up with just a tap on Reidy.

After the safety car resumption, Gartner threaded his way up the order and lobbed into the dice for fourth between Mark Crutcher (Mustang) and Hayden Jackson (Dodge Challenger). He split them briefly and even looked like displacing Crutcher.

But the Master Cup leader had other ideas and fought back to win the feisty battle. Jackson was also able to benefit from their squabble and Gartner lost out to both. Michael Coulter and Nick Bates were the next two finishers in their Mustangs, in front of Mark Spencer (Camaro) and the Speedway ace Farr.

The TFH Hire Muscle Car Series framed by Hytek Steel Framing will have Race 2 at 10:50am AEDT, Race 3 at 1:15pm and Race 4 at 3:40pm on Sunday.