THE glorious sunshine of the previous few days had given way to changeable conditions by Saturday evening as drivers, teams and fans gathered at HRP Lochgelly Raceway for the latest slice of Stock Car action presented by Hardie Race Promotions, writes our Raceway reporter Les Waller.

The track was damp in the early stages of a busy meeting which saw five formulas racing with high stakes across the sixteen races as the track dried out during the evening.

The first formula on show were the Ninja Karts who, as always, arrived in good numbers and got the evening’s action underway with their traditional whites and yellows race and it was one of the more experienced yellow graders in the form of Rachel Kidd who came through to take the win ahead of fellow yellow grader Kaydan Day and white top Leona Anderson.

The first heat proper saw the blues and reds join in the fray while the whites and yellows would race in two of the three remaining races. Three drivers have been in blistering form of late and it would be those three that dominated the sharp end of the result in heat one as European and British Champion Robbie Armit took the win ahead of a flying Bailey Millar and Scottish and National Points Champion Charlie Hardie. Hardie took his customary win in heat two with Millar coming home in second and Scott Allardyce third while Millar’s hard work over the course of the evening finally paid off in full in heat three as he scorched to victory ahead of Allardyce and Harry Robertson. Full credit must go to Millar as he had a crash during practice and it took a great deal of work from the team to get the 60 machine back on track – hard work does pay off sometimes!

With this being the final meeting where the points counted towards qualification for the Stars of the Future event at Ipswich Spedeweekend every point mattered and Charlie Hardie, Bailey Millar, Josh Bruce, Robbie Armit, Lennon Grant and Scott Allardyce will represent HRP and Scotland at the biggest short oval festival of 2017. Good luck to them all.

The Ministox continued the theme of youth on Saturday night at HRP Lochgelly Raceway as they appeared once again in big numbers in their final meeting here before the Lee Smart Racing British Championship on June 10 and 11. However, after a protracted race full of incidents, it was Scotland’s Charlie Folan who came through to take the win ahead of English duo Abbie McGuiness and David Shearing. Heat Two saw a rare but welcome win for Kyle Roberts as he fended off the challenge of English lady racers Jamie-Lee Thomson and McGuiness. The feature final was another fantastic race with the bumpers being used to their full effect but it was one of the newcomers for 2017 who kept calm as the chaos reigned behind him as Declan Honeyman took an excellent win from McGuiness who completed a set of top three finishes in second and Steven Burgoyne in third. All set up very nicely for the British Championship in just over a week’s time.

The National Hot Rods were racing in their final qualifying round for the 2017 World Championship and, after eleven rounds, there were still a number of drivers with the opportunity of claiming a place in the big one. English star Jack Blood was also on hand in his stunning Tigra B as he enjoyed a run to test his car ahead of Ipswich. The first heat went to Paul Yule after an excellent drive as he held off world qualifying challenging duo Roy Anderson and Lochore’s Billy Bonnar.

Bonnar went on to claim heat two as he relegated Scottish Points Champion Elect Ian Donaldson to second and last week’s Crimond final winner Steven Armit to third.

With just the one race remaining the battle for that second spot in the world final was still raging on and it was Bonnar with a heat and final winning double who did as much as he could to attempt to overturn the deficit in the points but with Anderson and Armit rounding out the top three it is up to the NHRPA (the formula’s governing body) to release the news on who will represent Scotland on the road to gold!!!

The 2.0 Hot Rods also had Ipswich on their minds as this would be their final chance to secure qualification for the National Championship at the beginning of July. With qualification having started last July; William Hardie had given himself a tough task to qualify in only half a season but he made the best possible start on Saturday as he took another heat win ahead of an ever-improving Kinzie Law and fast-moving Gerry Hendry. The second heat saw what has become an almost customary win for Kevin Stewart as he underlined his value to the formula with another victory in his debut season which relegated Hardie to second and the returning Gordon Hendry to third. The feature final was run in dry conditions and few have had an answer for Hardie at HRP Lochgelly Raceway this year in dry conditions. Hardie went on to underline his form with a blistering victory ahead of Scottish Champion Gordon Alexander and Gill Anderson.

With qualification completed; Alexander topped the charts with Gerry Hendry, William Hardie, Jock Campbell, Alex Wilson and Gill Anderson also making the cut to be the six Scottish representatives in the 2.0 Hot Rods for the National Championship at Ipswich. However, before that event, the 2.0 Hot Rods have the small matter of the David Philp Commercials British Championship at HRP Lochgelly Raceway in just over seven days’ time.

The final formula on show were the incredible Superstox and they continued their brilliant form once again with another good turnout of cars and some breathtaking action. Scottish Champion and Bryan Forrest resumed their battle for the National Points Championship which looks almost certain to go to the wire but it was Frame who struck first as he took a faultless win in heat one ahead of Lewis Willacy and Colin Frame with Forrest only able to muster a seventh-place finish. Heat Two saw Willacy go one better as he claimed his first win of a season that has been dogged by mechanical issues but he will be hoping to have put these behind him just ahead of the Dechmont Forklift Trucks British Championship at HRP Lochgelly Raceway in June – David Frame picked up second place while recent debutant Dean Johnston claimed his best finish so far in third. The feature final was another incredible race with the bumpers being used to full effect on a busy track but it was Colin Frame who claimed the win to maintain his good start to the year with former F1 Trust Fund Champion Paul Ford in the borrowed Ally Noble car in second place and David Frame in third to round off a great night of action and entertainment.

The next slice of stock car and banger action at HRP Lochgelly Raceway comes this Saturday June 3rd and features one of the most eagerly anticipated events of any season as the Rookie Banger Scottish Championship rumbles into town at 6pm.