THE big news coming out for the Cowdenbeath Racewall is the announcement that the ORCi Stock Rod World Final as well as the ORCi Ministox British Championships are to be staged there in what is the 40th season of GMP Scotland, writes Racewall scribe Jim Turner.

Two formulae that have provided the fans at the Cowdenbeath Racewall with plenty of excitement over the 2019 season are the 1300 Saloons and the Ministox drivers.

The numbers racing in the 1300 Saloons grew and amongst the new faces one who stood out was Scott Lindsell (Cowdenbeath) who won a plethora of races at the start of the season and ended up as a red grade driver.

There was some cracking racing between Fraser Clark and Kyle Hegg (Glenrothes) and later on in the season with James Ellis (Cowdenbeath) who was a late starter. Clark was perhaps that bit more consistent and that saw him come out on top in the Racewall track and National Points whilst he won the Highland Championship at Crimond. However, in the other championship races Clark didn’t enjoy the best of luck and lost out.

The Gold Roof series was again an interesting one with the drivers lining up for the final in points scored order.

Clark and Lindsell were on the front row with Charlie Folan and Aaron Hastie (Ceres) on row 2. Clark was sent wide on the pit bend and suffered a puncture. Folan led but Hegg spun and when the race was suspended again Folan then had to lead from Cameron Milne. It was Milne who then took over before going on to win from Lindsell and Hegg with white grader Kieran Edgar in fourth place.

The grid for the Scottish was a drawn grid with Hastie on pole but he was slow off the mark with Dale Robertson (Glenrothes) leading from Ellis who took the lead within a couple off laps. Once there he went on to win from Hegg and Clark.

The inaugural running of the Craig McNicholl Memorial Trophy brought a big number of cars to the Racewall and included drivers from HRP and Northern Ireland. There were prizes galore on offer and the racing certainly was exciting.

Heat wins went to Jamie Brown, Clark and Folan with almost all those who turned up starting the final.

There was action everywhere you looked almost as soon as the race started and soon developed into a three car dice between Hegg, Lindsell and Clark although the latter began to fall away. Hegg’s car shed a bonnet and whilst Lindsell was first home he had broken a wheel guard and was disqualified this handing the win to Zak Gilmour. However it had been a cracking night’s racing!

The Superbowl weekend saw the 1300 Saloons back in action and again the racing was fast and furious with Declan Lindsell (Cowdenbeath) joining the ranks whilst David Dignan (Leven) was having an outing in brother Jordan’s car.

Some 26 cars started out and the drivers were not shy at making contact. Dougie Ford and Hegg were heat winners and whilst Clark looked to be on his way to win the Superbowl but he eventually lost out to Ellis and Ford on the last lap and had to settle for third spot.

There weren’t as many drivers at the track on Sunday but they still put on a cracking show with Gary Paterson (Saline) winning the 1300 Young Gunn race and then Declan Lindsell the Cock of the North trophy.

It certainly had been another great advert for the 1300 saloon drivers and already there are a few new names in the frame for 2020.

The Ministox drivers are aged between 11 and 16 years of age but from their antics on track you would certainly not guess that. The drivers were not afraid to use their bumpers and there were a few triers who clambered up the wall and quite a few who rolled their cars. Still some of the race craft from the drivers was of a high quality and quite often you would see drivers racing nose to tail and swapping places on a regular basis.

The racing was dominated by Taylor Borthwick who went on to win the National Championship along with the track and GMP National Points title.

There were a few new faces on the grid at the start of the season coming in the form of Robbie Armit, Charlie Faichney and Ethan Doull. Charlie Hardie, Sam Cavanagh, Ross McLaughlin, Bailey Millar, Rachel Kidd, Andrew Scott were to appear later in the season whilst Hannah Borthwick retired after almost a season away.

Barry Scott retired towards the end of the season whilst Taylor Borthwick and Mika Millar were to reach retirement age by the end of the year. Declan Honeyman was another to stop racing to concentrate more on kicking a ball about!

Newcomers Armit and Hardie were to capitalise on starting from the front of the grid and after some good results moved up the grades.

The East of Scotland Championship attracted Charlie Santry, Abbie McGuiness and Emmaleigh Polley to the Racewall.

There were four heats on the Saturday night with Santry winning three and Taylor Borthwick the other.

The grid on Sunday paired Santry on the front row but not long after the start there was a stoppage after Polley was spun then hit by another car and she required assistance out of her car.

On the restart Santry and T. Borthwick ran in close order and fought it out for most of the race. Santry led early on but he lost out to Borthwick. However when he made his challenge he sent Borthwick into a spin and she ended crashing heavily into a marker tyre and the stricken Ciaran Adams (Lochgelly) car. On the restart Santry went on to win from Barry Scott and Logan Bruce. Jay Paterson (Saline) then went on to win the Joan Purdie Memorial trophy fending off Scott and Millar.

Ross Lawrence won the Turner Trophy but it looked as if Millar had retained the trophy only to fall foul of the Steward and received a two place penalty.

On the night of the Scrutineers Trophy the opening race was the Dash for the Tyre which saw Honeyman come through the field to win.

The Scrutineers Trophy was run in a drizzle but it turned out to be an exciting race. After a race suspension Ryan Borthwick moved into the lead with Paterson moving into second place. However, Mitch Gold (Cowdenbeath) began to close in on the leader during the closing laps and on the run up to the finish line Gold just sneaked through to pip Borthwick.

The annual running of the RGM Thistle Trophy final saw Faichney and Rachel Kidd lead initially with Kyle Roberts soon leading the pack. Then the action happened with Paterson moving into the lead only then to lose out to Millar. Towards the end the action “hotted up” with closing on the leader, However Paterson was to spin and Millar slipped through on the inside to win.

The Prostock driver numbers weren’t as healthy as they were the previous season but that didn’t deter the drivers from some exciting racing.

Dean McGill (East Wemyss) won the European Championship at the Racewall although it was a close run affair.

After Paul Barron (Cowdenbeath) departed the scene the fight for the track points was between Ian Christie (Kirkcaldy) and John Mason and it went right to the bitter end. There were two points between the drivers at the start of the first heat of the last meeting and that dropped to one after it. However both drivers ended up crashing out of heat two and with only Christie making it out for the final the destination of the points was over.