Tungate, the 2018 Australian champion, started brightly winning his first two heats, but a crash and exclusion in the third heat left one bike bent and then he blew his engine in the fourth heat on his second bike.

In a superhuman effort Tungate and his crew paired up the engine from his first bike with the frame of his second to resurrect his title quest with eight points from a possible nine to finish the night with a leg victory and 14 points to carry into Tuesday night's round at Undera, in Victoria.

"It was a crazy, crazy night. Things were going wrong all night but we got there in the end," Tungate said.

"It was a big effort, that's for sure. It wasn't easy when your head is all over the place in that position.

"To come back from it, I was pretty happy to do that."

Victorian rider Jaimon Lidsey was second behind Tungate in the final but leads the series on 19 points followed by reigning champion Max Fricke on 18 who was third in the final.

Jack Holder was fourth in the final and sits fourth on points with 13, one point ahead of Newcastle's 2017 Aussie champion Sam Masters on 12, former world champion Chris Holder 11, 2016 champion Brady Kurtz 10 and Heddon Greta's Josh Pickering on nine.

Pickering picked up a point for finishing third in one semi-final and Masters was fourth in the other. The first two from each semi-final progress to the final.

The Albury leg of the championship series followed a disappointing opening night for the Kurri Kurri Speedway Club members when racing was abandoned when 44-plus heat left the track too dangerous for racing despite a huge effort by staff.

Unfortunately, Buttai's Jye Etheridge suffered a broke collarbone in a crash in the fifth heat of the meeting.

Tungate said it had been an exhausting night emotionally and physically.

"Hopefully that is the end of the bad luck for me and we can get some good results going forward," he said.

"We've still got a fair bit of work to straighten out the bike, but we can relax a bit knowing at least we didn't blow too many points.

"Jaidon (Lidsey), Max (Fricke) and Jack (Holder) are all riding really well, but this is a quality field all the way through and you can't drop your guard at any stage.

After Undera, the series moves to Mildura on Thursday and Gillman on Saturday.

POINTS: 1. Jaimon Lidsey 19; 2. Max Fricke 18; 3. Rohan Tungate 14; 4. Jack Holder 13; 5. Sam Masters 12; 6. Chris Holder 11; 7. Brady Kurtz 10; 8. Josh Pickering 9; 9. Robert Medson 7; 10. Jordan Stewart 6; 11. Ryan Douglas 6; 12. Justin Sedgmen 4; 13: Zack Cook 4. 14. Ben Cook 3; 15. Jack Morrison 2. 16. Zane Keleher (withdrawn)