WELL that is a new year started and I hope that everyone had a good time when it arrived, writes our Cowdenbeath Racewall scribe Jim Turner.

The holiday meeting gets underway on Sunday January 8, weather permitting and it has all the makings of being an interesting one.

It is banger based this year and features micro bangers in teams of four, and van bangers whilst the youngsters get their chance to shine in the ministox. The meeting starts at 1pm but check the web site in case bad weather strikes! Not the first time we have raced with snow falling!

Already there has been quite a few drivers enquiring about the meeting and we know that one of the micro teams will feature Chris Burgoyne and Graeme Shevill. The other drivers in the team are reported to be Billy Smith and Jack Aldridge but whether they make the long journey north remains to be seen.

If they do then they are going to be a team to be reckoned with.

Saloon driver Willie Mitchell is another building a car but as yet the other three names have not been released!

Expect to see at least a couple of teams heading down from Crimond and they may well contain the likes of Brian Youngson, John Taylor and Mark Delgarno.

The Mayfield Mob are likely to have two cars with James Dillon and James Jnr and Ian Cameron amongst the drivers. Tam Melrose, Dougie Kidd, Steve Allan and Sean McConnachie are others who could well feature.

If I remember the van bangers were interesting with some heavy hits and quite a few of them spinning as a result.

Jim “Jimbo” Riddell should be down from Crimond with a van and he will be looking to get stuck in, hitting anything that gets in his way.

It is a sight to see a van banger taking a big hit and not knowing whether it will stay on all four wheels or not! Remember Neil Naismith having his rolled as he went down the back straight?

When you get quite a few of them out on the track then they can be exciting and from the enquiries hopefully that will be the case.

At the time of writing there are 14 Vans booked in including saloon driver Barry Glen.

Others include David McKay, Lee Clarke, Scott Lindsell. Michell Murdock and Declan Lindsell. Neil Naismith has also booked in and is reported to be part of a four car team. Interesting!

The ministox are likely to be the crowd pleasers yet again although Euan Millar has departed the scene and will be plying his trade in a formula II this year.

This leaves Steven Burgoyne as the driver they will all have to catch and he will probably the favourite to win most of the races this year. Steven was the Racewall track points champion in 2016 and must be favourite to retain the title.

However, there are quite a few drivers who will be looking to mount a challenge and amongst them are two girls coming in the form of Teri Linden and Taylor Borthwick. Both have proved that they can mix it with the best and they are certainly not shy about using their bumpers to improve their racing positions.

Mitch Gold will be using the ex-Millar car and along with Gary Paterson should be able to mount a challenge to the Burgoyne supremacy. Mika Millar is another who showed a good turn of speed towards the end of last season and if he can maintain that form then a blue roof beckons.

Bryan Lindsay is one of the ministox drivers who will be retiring in 2017 but where he is heading to next remains to be seen. There are rumours of a 2 litre saloon but we will have to wait to see.

Expect to see Kyle Roberts, Ryan Borthwick and Lauren Ford, white graders who should be moving up the grades this year.

There will be new faces in the minis this year and amongst them will be Declan Honeyman and Hannah Borthwick. Honeyman may well make quite a few people sit up and takes notice when he gets used to his mini.

There may well be a couple of drivers down from Crimond for the meeting with Robyn and Logan Bruce regularly making the trip down from Brechin to race.

Luke McCallum should be making the trip up from Carlisle for the meeting and he too will be one to watch out for this year.

McCallum has shown that he is not afraid to use the bumper. Mind you last season he and his brother Jack seemed to be drawn together like magnets leaving father Peter scratching his head at times after watching their antics.

With the start to the season still a while away, although practice starts in February, there have been a few drivers enquiring about the BBA Unlimited National Banger World Cup in April which augers well.

This event has not been a terribly good one for the Scottish drivers with only Hoagy Wallace managing to win whilst the remainder of the wins have gone to drivers from south of the border.

Will it be any different this year? Only time will tell but…….!

The Rookie and micro banger classes both attract healthy fields and there is never any shortage of action when they are about and the state of some of the cars at the end of their races is quite something!