DRIVERS, teams and fans gathered in huge numbers at HRP Lochgelly Raceway on Saturday for the latest slice of stock car and banger action.

Championship fever continued in Hardie Race Promotion’s September to Remember as the big van bangers rumbled into town for their Scottish Championship.

They were the headline act in a packed night of action but it was the Junior Productions who were first on track as the fledgling formula continues to hold demonstration races.

The formula now has six registered drivers, with more expected shortly, and four were in attendance with the first two races going the way of 2017’s dominant driver Cameron Willacy.

Chelsey-Lee Kirton then took the spoils as she held off Willacy’s challenge to claim victory in their last race of the night.

The Ministox were back in action following their National Championship at Taunton where regular HRP visitor David Shearing took the title, with Scotland’s Steven Burgoyne and Teri Linden claiming third and fourth place finishes.

With no white tops on the grid, the 14 cars lined up with Kyle Roberts and Jamie Stewart leading the way from the yellow grade. After the initial sort out during the first few laps, it was Roberts who built a healthy lead. As the laps wound down, it looked like Roberts had the race in the bag but Burgoyne was not about to give up.

He made contact with the rear bumper of the leader's car and edged ahead to take the win ahead of Roberts and Linden, in a race punctuated by a spectacular rollover for Taylor Borthwick.

The second heat saw Burgoyne take his second win of the night ahead of Linden and Charlie Folan. The feature final was run under the floodlights at Lochgelly and the drivers produced a tremendous race with the bumpers used to good effect as the drivers swapped places throughout the race.

A caution period for a stranded car saw the race brought to a halt but, when the green flag dropped again, it was the red graded pairing of Ciaran Adams and Linden who were soon battling for the lead with Linden getting the decisive hit on Adams’ bumper as they exited turn two.

That allowed her through for victory ahead of Adams and Taylor Borthwick, who was promoted to third after Burgoyne was dropped four places for jumping the restart.

There were a few less 2.0 Hot Rods than usual but World Champion Gordon Alexander and British, National and recently-crowned European Champion William Hardie took a lap of honour before the first heat to celebrate the fact that Scotland had achieved the Grand Slam of major titles.

The first heat saw a dominant performance from pole-sitter Andrew Denholm who led from flag to flag with Hardie coming home in second and Alex Wilson third.

The second heat saw Denholm shoot into the lead again but the rest of the field were not about to let him get away. Kevin Stewart was able to overhaul him to take his first win for a few months, ahead of World Champion Alexander and Denholm.

The feature final was another fast-paced race with Denholm again playing the role of the hare. The red top train led by Hardie, Wilson and Alexander soon caught and passed Denholm and, having claimed the European and Dutch Open titles just the week before, it was Hardie who crossed the line first ahead of Wilson and Alexander.

The Superstox had also been on their travels but, sadly, none of the Scots were able to claim the European title won by England’s Jordan Aylward. Just 20 points separated David Frame and Bryan Forrest at the beginning of the night as the battle for the National Points Championship began its final month. Disaster befell Forrest almost as soon as the race began as a rear-wheel issue saw an end to his challenge.

That did not deter former Ministox ace Dean Johnston as he took full advantage of the chaos behind him.

He built up a sizeable lead which he held on to until the chequered flag to take his first win with a fast-moving Jordan Black in second ahead of National Points leader David Frame.

Heat two looked to be a carbon copy of heat one as Johnston led but Frame was able to catch and pass him to take the win.

The feature final was an excellent race with the bumpers used on every corner as the drivers battled it out for victory.

Black looked very fast from the yellow grade and he soon took up the lead, but the race was brought to a halt after Scottish Champion Forrest and current National Points Champion Stuart Gilchrist had a coming together which eliminated both drivers, with Forrest’s car spectacularly leaping over the infield kerb. Black held on to the lead all the way until the chequered flag to pick up his first ever feature final win ahead of David Frame and Adam Low.

The final formula on show were probably the reason that most of the spectators crammed into the raceway as the Big Van Bangers gathered to contest their Scottish Championship.

A phenomenal 35 vans took to the track and made for an incredible sight as they took the green flag for their title race.

The race was stopped almost as soon as it began with the van of Stephen Van Putten rolled on its side in turn three but, after checking the driver was ok, the race was restarted.

There were some unusual vans on display, including the big Iveco of Lee Clarke while the man who took the ProStocks Scottish Championship seven days earlier, Tam Melrose, brought a huge Mercedes Minibus to join the predominantly Transit-based field. Chaos reigned wherever you looked as the vans got well and truly stuck in with a number of vans falling by the wayside as the crowd enjoyed the amazing action.

At the end of the race; only three vans remained with Zak Murdoch taking the Scottish title ahead of Melrose and Clarke as three of the bigger vans survived the melee to go the distance.

Around 20 vans returned for the first all-comers race which was another fantastic banger race. This time only five vans went the distance as Dayle Ashall claimed the win in his trusty white Transit.

The second all-comers race was a short dash that was won by 27 Kyle Roy in another Transit before the Demolition Derby began in earnest with some incredible shots being witnessed. Despite the best efforts of his team-mate Roy, it was Melrose’s minibus that was unstoppable and was the last van running at the end of the night as Melrose took the win.

Championship Fever continues this Saturday as the Ninja Karts contest their Scottish Championship. The Superstox, 2.0 Hot Rods and CC Rods will also be in action plus the amazing Classic Hot Rods. The action starts at 6pm.