IT was a night of banger mayhem at the Cowdenbeath Racewall on Saturday and whilst it stayed dry during the racing prior to it there was a couple of snow showers and then bright blue skies!

The fans turned up in their numbers and there was a slight delay to the parade lap to let them all in.

The banger drivers turned up in their numbers for the World Cup with drivers coming from Northern Ireland, Devon, South East of England whilst a whole host of the Crimond drivers headed south for the occasion.

In the World Cup event Gary Madgwick rolled his car spectacularly on the top bend as he tried to make up ground on the inside of a few cars.

Previous winners Jack Foster Jnr and Jason Jackson were amongst those in action whilst amongst the favourites for the title were Jack and Kyle Overy, Joey Palmer, Madgwick, Timmy Aldridge, Lee Clarke and Brett Ellacott.

However, the Scots haven’t won this event since Hoagy Wallace was successful and there were plenty of Scottish drivers hoping that this would be their year.

The cars ranged from Granada’s, Jags to a hearse and one of the longest stretch limos you could imagine that struggled to get itself around the bends.

Mind you at the end of the night there were quite a few cars that were wrecked with the limo of Jim Riddell having its roof kinked after being hit hard in the Destruction Derby.

The saloon drivers were also in action with Daniel Kennedy and Scott Jamieson down from Crimond whilst Kyle Irvine was back as was Derek Duff after a couple of years away.

The saloon drivers had four races with the local drivers being Kyle Irvine (Glenrothes), Ross Watters (Leven), Derek Duff (Cupar), Dave Sturrock (Saline) and Alex Cunningham (Leven).

Their first race of the night was another of the white/yellow saloon challenge races and whilst Greg Honeyman led the field away he was sent wide during the closing stages as Cunningham charged through to win. G. Honeyman held onto second whilst Glen Heeps was third with Sturrock in eighth place.

The first heat saw Ryan Muirhead take the lead on lap one and slowly edge away from the pack but Marc Honeyman was going well and at the half distance moved ahead of Muirhead.

Irvine, in his first race of the season, was making up ground quickly having got ahead of Watters. Irvine then moved into second place and whilst he reduced the gap to the leader, M. Honeyman was still ahead when the race ended with Luke Grief in third, Watters who dropped to fifth.

The second heat was led off by G. Honeyman from Muirhead although Heeps moved into second the following lap although he had Graeme Anderson in close order. However, Gary Scollon’s car came to rest on the turnstile bend with M. Honeyman’s car crashing into it suspending the race.

Although G. Honeyman led the cars away on the restart, Grief charged from third into the lead whilst Jamieson spun. M. Honeyman was under pressure from Irvine and spun on the pit bend as Grief won from Irvine and Watters with Duff in seventh place.

G. Honeyman was the early leader when the final started but within a couple of laps Anderson was through into the lead whilst Kennedy’s car came to a stop, suspending the race.

Anderson led the field away on the restart from Keith Mitchell whilst Grief was closing in on those ahead of him. Just after the half distance Grief was ahead with Anderson coming under pressure from Irvine. Irvine did get ahead of Anderson and began to close in on Grief but ran out of laps as Grief picked up his second win of the night from Irvine, Anderson and Watters with Duff in tenth place.

Anderson was soon through into the lead when the Allcomers started and he was still clear at the close where he led home Watters and M. Honeyman with Sturrock in seventh.

After a parade lap the banger drivers who hadn’t qualified for the World Cup, appeared but Mark Morrison’s car wouldn’t run and he was pushed off the grid. Ryan Farquhar and Philip Bowers tangled as Gary Khan moved into the lead only for him to be taken out by Tommy Hutchings.

A couple of cars ended up against the turnstile bend with Brian Youngson hitting the back of Kyle Shires’ car. Mark Farquhar was clear of Billy Bond and went on to a fairly easy win over Bond and Youngson – the only three cars to survive.

The qualifiers for the World Cup appeared with the back straight and turnstile bend full of cars with Colin Riddell the early leader but almost right away Jon Taylor was spun. There was a big shunt on the pit bend with multiple cars involved and the race was suspended to give Youngson assistance out of his car.

Jack Overy was the new leader but the race only lasted another lap when it had to be suspended after Madgwick’s car rolled after he tangled with Liam Lake. The field lined up behind Overy and when the green flag dropped he gained a few car lengths over Steve Allan with Charlie King in third. Mark Dalgarno was sent spinning and a couple of laps later Allan joined him on the sidelines as he too was spun.

Brett Ellacott moved into third but further down the order Scott Cornish was sent spinning. Overy was well clear of King but the latter had Ellacott in close order and was having to look sharp to keep him at bay.

Kyle Overy retired during the closing stages of the race as Jack Overy celebrated becoming the 2016 World Cup winner from King and Ellacott.

Some 27 cars appeared for the Allcomers race with the race having to be suspended after a six car shunt on the main straight which saw James Dillon’s car taking a hefty knock. Karl Douglas led the cars away but he was caught during the latter stages as Steve “Pikey” Bailey went through to win, just, from Jason Jackson and J. Overy.

Despite the action there was a good field of cars out for the final with Callum Reed leading the field away but he was moved wide as Joey Palmer took over at the front of the pack. Clark moved into second from K Overy whilst J. Overy and Bailey were running nose to tail further down the order. C. Riddell and Glyn Platts tangled whilst Paul Cuthbert spun Joe Parsons crashed out whilst Douglas was spun on the back straight. Palmer however was running clear of the pack and he went through to win the final from K. Overy and Ellacott.

There weren’t too many cars out for the Destruction Derby with Jim Riddell’s car bursting its steering early on and whilst he did his best to remove the others he ended up being wrecked after being hit by Steven van Putten’s car. In the end Neil Naismith survived after making contact with all the others and he was the last car running.

This Saturday it is back to norm with the formula IIs and 2litre National saloons in action and they are joined in the fray by the 1300cc saloons and lightning rods with the meeting starting at 6.00pm as usual.

Look for formula II driver Daniel Scrimgeour to be back in action with the Polley car he won in a raffle and there is news that there could be a few new faces out in the 1300cc saloons.