After some beautiful weather the day before, a typical Scottish summer’s evening of persistent drizzle interspersed with heavy rain greeted drivers, teams and fans as they gathered at HRP Lochgelly Raceway for the latest slice of stock car action presented by Hardie Race Promotions. It was another value for money evening with no less than fifteen races scheduled across the five formulas on show with something for everyone of all tastes and ages.

The first formula on track was the fledgling Junior production formula which provides young driver aged between 10 and 16 the opportunity to race in non-contact formula. The formula has produced some top drivers during its time in Northern Ireland including several World Champions and current top Scot Cameron Willacy headed to Northern Ireland last week where he acquitted himself well with top ten places in all three races. Cameron utilized his Ministox experience this past Saturday in dreadful conditions to secure a faultless hat-trick as he took all three races ahead of Amber Tyrrell and debutant Chelsey-Lee Kirton.

The CC Rods were the next formula on track. The CC Rods are HRP Lochgelly Raceway’s own low-budget non-contact formula and they have gone from strength to strength in the past few years; further underlined by a brilliant turnout of twenty-one cars this past Saturday including debutant Lee Scott from Leslie who elected to start from the comparative safety of the rear of the grid. It was a late start to the season too for Bob Martin of Glenrothes but he showed he had lost none of his speed as he made it a race-winning return with victory in heat one ahead of fellow yellow-top Bob Cairns and blue Kevin Donaldson. Having won heat one, Martin found himself at the rear of a large group of yellow tops who battled in the rain throughout the race for supremacy which allowed white-top Lee Wotherspoon to get away and romp home to victory while Martin made it through his fellow yellow-tops to take the runners-up spot ahead of Cairns. The feature final saw the rain teaming down, certainly not great conditions for the CC Rod drivers but they put on a great display! There was one pile-up in turn three which had caught out a few cars but the majority of the drivers managed to negotiate the tricky surface successfully and it was Cairns who finally came out on top after two podium finishes with a strong drive in the feature final to take the win ahead of National Points and Scottish Champion ian Donaldson and Kevin Donaldson.

The Ministox were back in action for the second week in a row and another good grid of cars arrived to do battle at a wet HRP Lochgelly Raceway. Once again, there were no English visitors so it was up to the Scottish youngsters to entertain and they did just that! The first heat saw a great battle between white tops Alex Robertson and William Wallace in the early stages and the higher graded drivers had to put the foot down to get on terms with Robertson who has been in great form of late. Robertson eventually had to settle for a very respectable fourth place as ORCi Champion Steven Burgoyne took the win ahead of Terri Linden and Charlie Folan. The second race developed a similar pattern to heat one as Wallace and Robertson raced off with Wallace coming out on top of their personal battle this time. The blue and red top train was not to be denied though and Folan surged into the lead and looked to be odds-on to take the win until the last corner where Burgoyne managed to squeeze Folan wide to claim his second win of the night. The feature final was destined to be held in some of the heaviest rain of the evening but the drivers still managed to put on a fantastic display of racing. The question on everyone’s lips was could Steven Burgoyne take a hat-trick? It looked like the answer to that would be no as former Ninja Kart National Champion Declan Honeyman tore off into the lead from his yellow grade start position. Unfortunately for Honeyman, there was to be no victory as Burgoyne overhauled the 2017 rookie in the latter stages of the race to take his third win of the night ahead of Taylor Borthwick and Michael Mitchell to round off a great night of Ministox racing.

The Stock Rods were back in action for the first time since before the summer break and it was the home crowd’s first chance to welcome home newly-crowned European Champion Chris Lattka after his victory at Ipswich Spedeweekend. A fantastic field of seventeen cars arrived to do battle including the returning Pete Thomson and John Venters plus the 2017 debuts of Doug McLean and former British Champion Andy Grant! Thomson’s challenge for the evening ended early with what appeared to be mechanical issues as the drivers settled into the twenty-lap race. Ross Finlay started as the sole white top and took full advantage as he maintained his lead over the rest of the field all the way until the chequered flag to pick up another win to add to the 2017 rookie’s CV ahead of Gary Dean and Daniel Davidson (two of 2016’s top finds). The second heat saw a winning return for John Venters as he managed to just edge out fellow returnee Andy Grant for the win with former National Points Champion Siobhan Martin coming home in third place. The feature final saw the worst conditions of the evening for the Stock Rods and it helped to claim some victims including European Champion Lattka who appeared to clip the home straight fence all by himself as well as the likes of Andy Grant and Stewart Paterson who had struggled with handling issues all night as well as heat one winner Finlay who hit the wall at turn three. However, this did not deter Gary Nicholls who has had an impressive few months and underlined this with the win in the feature final ahead of Siobhan Martin and Gary Dean. Brilliant stuff from the Stock Rods.

Heat One

363 Lee McGill, 42, 124, 314, 67, 216, 118, 710, 422, 408.

Heat Two

363 Lee McGill, 263, 124, 67, 314, 118, 216, 42, 710, 680.

Final

42 Billy Wilson, 124 Andrew Mathieson, 314 James Ellis, 263, 216, 363, 118, 67, 710, 125.

The final formula on show were the 1300 Stock Cars and it is safe to say that talk if their demise at HRP Lochgelly Raceway was premature based on Saturday’s exploits. Fifteen cars arrived to do battle including English visitors Luke Jackson, martin Taylor and former British Champion Dan Booth – all three visitors are more commonly seen racing on their local shale track at Kings Lynn but took the chance to do some laps at HRP Lochgelly Raceway ahead of the ASD Welding Services World Championship here in September! The racing from the first green flag until the end of the evening was simply brilliant with plenty of bumper-work and entertainment. Heat One saw Corey Robertson surge into the lead from the white grade and he was going well until the red top train caught him up before they continued their own battle over first place with Kirkcaldy’s Lee McGill coming out on top ahead of Lochgelly duo Billy Wilson in a brand new Corsa D and Andrew Mathieson. The second heat saw Robertson do the same as he had in heat one when he left the higher graded drivers battling between themselves but he was soon swallowed up by the fats moving traffic with Lee McGill eventually coming through to take his second win of the night ahead of Scottish Champion Dean McGill and Andrew Mathieson who had been very active with his front bumper! The feature final was the last race of the evening and the fans who stayed to watch it in the rain were given a treat with one of the best races of the year. Once again, Robertson made the early running but it was all about the huge grid of star-graded drivers who were flying around the wet oval at HRP Lochgelly Raceway with bumpers being used on every corner as places changed throughout the race. As the hits got bigger and bigger throughout the race with Andrew Mathieson notably involved once again with the McGills; it was Billy “Bumper” Wilson who came through to take his first win in his new car ahead of Mathieson and James Ellis to round off a great night of 1300 Stock Car action.

This Saturday sees the beginning of CHAMPIONSHIP FEVER at HRP Lochgelly Raceway with at least one championship event every Saturday from now until the end of October. It is the turn of Scotland’s top open-wheel formula to headline this weekend as the Superstox contest their Scottish Championship with Bryan Forrest defending his title against a high-quality field. The 2.0 Hot Rods, ProStocks, Ninja Karts and Junior Productions will also be in action from 5:30pm on Saturday July 29th.

BREAKING NEWS

Scotland’s own Gordon Alexander has scooped the 2017 2.0 Hot Rod World Championship in Northern Ireland and will be racing at HRP Lochgelly Raceway this Saturday. Huge congratulations to one of the longest-serving drivers in the sport – hard work certainly pays off!!!