THERE were no shortage of incidents at the Cowdenbeath Racewall on a dry Saturday night with the fans being treated to some hard racing, writes our Racewall scribe Jim Turner.

Barry Rennie rolled his microbanger going down the main straight and then in the next heat he rolled it on the pit bend, although to be fair he was shunted into a another car on the second occasion.

Whilst we were all hoping for a hat trick it was Dayle Ashell who rolled his microbanger during the final! The Destruction Derby ended in a blaze when Callum Campbell’s car erupted in flames after a head on shunt, with the marshals attending to it in quick fashion.

However, it was the British Formula II champion Craig Wallace who started the roll sequence when he was clipped on the pit bend and ended up rolling his car.

Ian Edmiston was back in action after a couple of years on the sidelines and his meeting ended with a fire at the end of the final although it was quickly extinguished.

There were three drivers up from south of the border whilst Ian Edmiston and Daniel Scrimgeour were having their first outing this year.

Local drivers on the grid were Gregor Turner (Dunfermline), Kieran Howie (Dunfermline), Paul Reid (Cowdenbeath) and Ian Thompson (Kennoway).

The first heat saw Thompson go through to win from Marc Fortune with Dennis Middler finishing in third just ahead of Turner.

Craig Wallace was back out for heat two with Thompson picking up his second win of the night when he again led home Fortune with Wallace finishing in third place and P. Reid in tenth place.

The final was a close and exciting race with Pete Davidson leading the field away and whilst Brian Hogg Jnr led for a couple of laps it was soon Turner who moved to the front of the pack.

By half distance Wallace was the new leader from Middler with Stevie Forster and Euan Millar fighting it out for fifth. Middler and Jason Blacklock tangled on the pit bend suspending the race and the field lined up behind Wallace who got away cleanly to win from Forster and Turner although the latter was excluded for a broken spring fixing and Howie was elevated to third.

Thompson then won the Grand National from Forster and Millar with Wallace in sixth place and just ahead of P. Reid with Howie in ninth place

Max Stott was a welcome visitor to the 2 Litre National saloon ranks with Willie Mitchell standing in for Ross Forrest who was feeling unwell. Local drivers on the grid included Raymond Dick (Glenrothes), Ross Watters (Leven), Euan Mathieson (Lochgelly) and Alex Cunningham (Leven).

The first heat was won by Ross Graham who led home Luke Grief and Ian McLaughlin with Watters in fifth and Cunningham tenth. However in heat two white grader Ryan Muirhead led until the last bend when he was shunted wide then hit by another car as McLaughlin claimed the win leading home Watters and Mathieson with Cunningham in fifth place.

The final saw white grader Tam Rutherford Jnr initially but Cunningham came through and he led for a good part of the race but towards the end of the race he was being reeled in by Watters and Grief.

On the last bend Cunningham lost the lead as both cars dived through almost side by side but on the run up to the finish line Watters just won it by a coat of paint from Grief with Cunningham third.

There was another good turn out of 1300saloons with Jason Secker and Blair Anderson having their first outing whilst Tom Walls having a run in the hire car. Local drivers in action included Fraser Anderson (Cowdenbeath), Lee Wilson (Comrie), Michael Byers (Methil), Michael Moyes (Cowdenbeath), Kev Baird (Glenrothes), and Arron Hastie (Ceres).

Secker won the first heat from Fraser Clark, Grant McGowan, Byers and Anderson with Moyes in eight place and finishing just ahead of Baird.

Heat two was a cracked with Clark, Anderson and Grant McGowan dicing for the lead over a good part of the race with a new leader on each lap during the closing stages. McGowan clipped the wall and lost ground as Clark went through to win by a narrow margin from Anderson and McGowan with Wilson in sixth, Hastie eighth and walls in tenth place.

The final saw Cameron Milne lead for a good part of the race but he was caught by the dicing duo of McGowan and Secker.

Once they relegated Milne to third the lead changed a couple of times before Secker went on to win from Clark, McGowan, Anderson and Wilson with Hastie in seventh place.

There was another good turn out of microbanger drivers and they certainly didn’t disappoint the fans with their antics. Three rollovers, plenty of shunts and spins certainly kept the fans attention!

The first heat saw Stevie Allan go through to win from Sean McConnachie and Lindsell but on the main straight Rennie managed to roll his car.

Heat two saw Dayle Ashall visit the wall and then there was a four cars shunt on the main straight.

On the pit bend Rennie was eased wide and hit a parked car and rolled suspending the race. Although Allan led for a lap Tam Melrose went through to win from Marc Dalgarno and Gary Black.

The final saw Dalgarno being spun early on as Allan took the lead and he went through to win from a recovering Dalgarno and Callum Campbell. Not long after the DD had started D. Ashall rolled his car on the pit bend. On the restart Campbell crashed head on with another car and burst into flames which were quickly extinguished leaving Melrose as the last car running.

This weekend the GMP Racewall is taken over by the Autospeed Promotion who presents the “big one” in the 2 litre saloon calendar with the drivers fighting it out for their World Championship.

The front row of the grid is shared between Shane Davies and Deane Mayes whilst Daniel Parker shares row two with the defending World Champion Simon Welton.

However, will any of the drivers on the front two rows make it around the first bend? The Scottish interest centers around Ian McLaughlin, Ross Watters, Kyle Irvine, Barry Glen and Paul Honeyman but expect quite a few Scottish drivers to qualify through the last chance qualifying race.

The formula II drivers will be the back up and they race for the George MacMillan trophy, there is practice in the afternoon for the saloons with the meeting starting at 5.00pm

On Sunday the formula II drivers race for their F2 Nationals and the saloons for their Raymond Gunn tribute whilst the stock rods are also in action. The meeting starts at 1.00pm