A BEAUTIFUL summer’s day greeted drivers, teams and fans as they gathered at HRP Lochgelly Raceway this past Saturday evening for the latest slice of stock car action presented by Hardie Race Promotions (In Association with Spedeworth Motorsports), writes Les Waller.

Following an early end to the Junior Productions demonstrations due to race car damage; it was down to the four senior formulas to entertain the spectators as the 6pm start time approached.

The ProStocks were first on track and a reasonable grid assembled to do battle in heat one including local racers Paul Barron (Cowdenbeath), Ian Christie (Kirkcaldy), Scott Gordon (Strathmiglo) and Scott Wilson (Cardenden). Unfortunately for the local pilots, none of them had an answer for a fast-moving Ryan O’Shea (Falkirk) who sliced his way through the field to take a dominant win.

Having missed the first race, Lochgelly’s Grady Ross made it on track for heat two in a brand-new car which looked stunning in the evening sunshine. Ross was unable to finish the full distance in a race of attrition which saw Paul Barron and Jason McAlpine, among others, getting stuck in which resulted in just the three finishers with O’Shea claiming his second win of the night.

As a result of his two heat wins, O’Shea was promoted to red grade for the feature final where he will race for the next month while many were asking if he could claim a hat-trick of race wins. The star graded drivers, including O’Shea, made their way to the front of the pack in short order but it was Paul Barron who increased his lead in the national points championship with victory by a large margin from Ian Christie and Jason McAlpine with double heat winner O’Shea rounding off a good night in fourth.

The CC Rods were back in action after a fortnight off and another fantastic grid of cars arrived for three cracking races. Around twenty cars took to the track for heat one and it was a spectacular race to watch with some fantastic racing throughout the field.

However, no driver had an answer for the debuting Colin Thomson who took his stunning Corsa C straight to victory lane on its maiden run. The second heat saw Stuart McDonald claim another win in the ex-Paul Muir Ford Puma as managed to fend off a strong challenge from Jamie Bell and Scottish/Points Champion Ian Donaldson.

The feature final saw an incident-packed sixteen laps with heat one winner Thomson having a coming-together with Brian Allan on the home straight as the other drivers battled for every position. Having claimed both heat wins, the white grade were quickly swamped by some fast moving yellow tops including Bob Cairns and Jamie Bell who surged to the head of the pack while Donaldson continued to pick off the field one car at a time.

Cairns managed to hold on to the lead all the way to the chequered flag to take the final winner’s trophy home to Methil while Bell held on for second ahead of Donaldson with another impressive drive from the rear to claim the final podium position.

The Stock Rods returned to HRP Lochgelly Raceway for the first time since their World Championship in Northern Ireland which was won by local ace Marc Morrell - Jonathan Lattka upheld Scottish pride with an excellent third.

Scottish and National Points Champion Chris Lattka debuted a new car which looked stunning in the pits before the meeting. Heat One saw white grader Ross Finlay make contact with the wall but that did not deter yellow grader Gary Nicholls who took up the running ahead of fellow yellow grader Ricky White and these two drivers maintained their positions to the end of the race with Chris Lattka taking third in his new car.

The second heat saw the yellow graders dominate once again but this time it was White who got to the head of the pack and ended the race as the runaway winner ahead of Stuart Paterson and with heat one winner Nicholls in third.

The feature final was run over the longer distance of twenty-five laps and, while White and his fellow yellow graders made most of the running, the extra laps allowed the star graders that bit more time to get on terms with them and it was Chris Lattka who carved his way through the field to overhaul White’s lead with Kelty’s Darren McAlpine also getting past White to claim second place at the chequered flag behind Lattka with White taking an excellent third place.

The 1300 Stock Cars were back on track for the final round of their MR Coachworks and Ringtone Racepaints Series which has seen £1000 up for grabs throughout the first half of the season.

This was the last chance for drivers to score points for the big-money final at HRP Lochgelly Raceway next Saturday with Lochgelly duo Euan and Andrew Mathieson leading the way in the series going into the meeting.

With Lochgelly driver Billy Wilson currently on the naughty step, it was Brian Wilson who drove Billy Wilson’s car onto track for heat one as he performed double duty as he raced both 1300 Stock Cars and Stock Rods this past Saturday. Wilson took full advantage of his yellow grade start and a disappointing grid of cars to claim an easy win in heat one ahead of Craig Haxton and Dean McGill. Lee McGill debuted a new Corsa C car in heat one but it seemed to have some teething troubles but he had clearly sorted these issues for heat two as he scorched to a maiden win for his new car ahead of Craig Haxton and Andrew Mathieson as some great battles raged on further down the field while McGill carried onto victory serenely.

The feature final was a race that was punctuated by some great bumper action despite the number of cars on track but Brian Wilson was not affected by that action as he took his second win of the night by a good margin from Lee McGill and Jock Whyte to conclude an entertaining evening of action at HRP Lochgelly Raceway.

This Saturday June 24 sees the final meeting before the summer break and it is a BIG ONE! The Unlimited National Bangers will be back in town after an absence of a few years for Scottish Championship action along with the 3-wheeled mayhem of the Reliant Robins for their Scottish Championship!

The 1300 Stock Cars will contest their big money MR Coachworks and Ringtone Racepaints Series Final while the Superstox and Ninja Karts will also be on track with the Ninjas kicking things off at 5:45pm this Saturday June 24 at HRP Lochgelly Raceway!