THE stock rod final at the Cowdenbeath Racewall on Saturday night, was suspended after David Kempton crashed heavily into the wall after taking avoiding action to miss a spun car and no sooner had his car hit the wall than he was collected by one of the cars that was running in close order. David was cut out of his car by the emergency services and taken to hospital for a check-up.

Latest but unconfirmed news is that he is making a good recovery.

The Easter weekend meetings have taken their toll on the formula IIs with Chris Burgoyne sidelined with crash damage whilst Dennis Middler was an absentee.

Gordon Moodie had his car back running after being involved in a shunt at Skegness but he struggled with the car during the opening heat before changing a diff.

Michael Bethune was back in action after racing at Ballymena on Friday where he ended up winning the Yokahama Tyre Championship.

However, there were 23 stock rods at the track with visitors Craig Robinson, Adam Daniels and Justin Washer joining the Barford regulars whilst David Kempton, David Dignan and Doug McLean were having their first outing of the season.

The 1300cc saloon numbers have almost doubled since the end of the season and there are a few more still working on their cars.

Paul Moss was a welcome formula II visitor carrying out his usual Easter weekend trip where he leaves his home in Fowey in the south west goes to Northampton, Skegness, Cowdenbeath, Barford and then Taunton before returning home on Monday night!

Local drivers in action were Paul and Craig Reid (Cowdenbeath), Simon Cranson (Cowdenbeath) and Gordon Moodie (Windygates).

The first formula II race was a white/yellow challenge race with Alex Hamilton winning from Jason Blacklock and Albert Smith, with Cranson in fifth place.

The opening heat saw P. Reid and Robbie Dawson early casualties but it was Garry Sime who came through to win from Marc Fortune and John Hogg with Moodie in sixth place.

In heat two Hamilton just got the verdict but it looked as if he was going to be literally pipped at the post as Moodie charged through. Howeve,r the verdict went to Hamilton by the narrowest of margins with P. Reid in third and Cranson in tenth place.

When the final started Cranson went straight into the lead and began to ease away from the field with Hamilton and Paul Reid chasing.

Moodie this time made short work of getting ahead of the red grade drivers although Dawson stuck close to his bumper.

P. Reid moved ahead of Hamilton whilst the opening heat winner, Sime retired. Moodie caught and passed Cranson to take the lead with Dawson moving into second a lap later. Dawson was slowly losing ground to Moodie whilst Cranson now had Craig Wallace in close order. However, when the chequer dropped Moodie picked up his third successive final win from Dawson with Cranson an excellent third and P. Reid in fifth place.

The stock rod drivers had turned up in their numbers and made light of the greasy conditions and served up some close and fast racing on a greasy track surface. Local drivers were James Matson (Glenrothes), David Dignan (Leven), Stuart McKinnon (Kincardine), Jim Pitcaithly (Kirkcaldy), Duncan Welsh (Kelty), Chris Wallace (Buckhaven), Dougie McLean (Glenrothes), Simon Laing (St. Andrews) and Michael Bethune (Kirkcaldy).

Heat one ended with McLean going through to win from Cameron Doak and Matson but it looked as if Pitcaithly was the likely winner until his car slowed with only a couple of laps remaining whilst in the lead.

Heat two had a similar pattern with Pitcaithly getting though into the lead but this time the car slowing on the penultimate lap allowing Matson through to win from Martin Rankine, McLean and Bethune with McKinnon in sixth place.

The final was suspended almost as soon as it began with Bethune and Matson touching on the main straight which sent Matson into a spin whilst Bethune came to rest beside him.

On the restart Welsh led but within a couple of laps Kempton was ahead. Rankine moved into second but soon there was a four way dice for the lead. Doak spun but was able to restart with James Gray now in second and ahead of Rankine and McKinnon. Doak spun exiting the top bend with Kempton going wide before hitting the wall and suspending the race. Once Kempton had been removed from his car the field lined up behind Gray who then reeled off the remaining laps to win from Pitcaithly and Rankine with Laing in seventh place.

Billy Bonnar (Ballingry) was amongst the National Hot Rod drivers in action in the World Championship qualifying round whilst also racing his 2 litre hot rod in between at Lochgelly.

On a greasy track the race had to be suspended after Ian Donaldson was clipped and spun and with nowhere to go Tam Rutherford hit the spinning car and had to retire.

Bonnar led on the restart before going through to win from Donaldson and Graeme Callender who was involved in a race long dice with Roy Anderson and just got the better of him on the run up to the finish line. Bonnar came out on top in heat two where he led home Donaldson and Anderson.

Unfortunately the hot rod final had to be cancelled.

New faces in the 1300cc saloons included Callum Farrance (Cowdenbeath), Colin Bruce, Stu McCaig and Darren Rae whilst the local drivers were Lindsay and Lee Wilson (Comrie) and Aaron Hastie (Ceres)

The opening heat saw Bruce lead from start to finish although he had to survive a couple of hairy moments early on before winning from Brian Allan and Graham Swan with Hastie in fifth and Lee Wilson eighth.

Grant McGowan just got the better of “Fabby” McCaig on the penultimate lap to win with Rae in third, Farrance sixth and Lee Wilson seventh. Again the final was cancelled.

The microF2s were having their first outing with new face Ross McLaughlin making his debut whilst the local driver were Leon Muir (Thornton) and Rebecca Reid (Cowdenbeath).

Jamie Dawson went on to win the opening heat taking the lead during the closing stages from Hannah Borthwick and Muir with Reid in seventh. In heat two Dawson picked up his second win of the night when he crossed the line ahead of Ross McLaughlin and Borthwick with Reid in fourth and finishing just ahead of Muir.

McLaughlin went straight into the lead when the final started with Borthwick chasing but Dawson and Reid were soon sidelined. Despite Borthwick getting close McLaughlin held on to record his first win leading home Borthwick and Lewis Burgoyne with Muir in fourth place.

This Saturday the BriSCA formula IIs and the 2 Litre national saloons are in action accompanied by the Lightning Rods and the Prostox. The meeting starts at 6.00pm as usual. The forthcoming BBA Unlimited World Cup is attracting big interest from drivers from south of the border and at this stage there is just over 50 drivers booked in including quite a few drivers who have been World Champions. More details to follow

Over a busy Easter weekend a few of the Scottish drivers have had a busy time racing starting off at Northampton where Gordon Moodie was second in his heat just ahead of Chris Burgoyne with Robbie Dawson tenth Moodie won the final before setting off to Skegness. However in his opening heat he was in a shunt and suffered a lot of damage and whilst he was back out for the final had to retire. Moodie was back out for the Grand National where he picked up a sixth place.