ORCI stock rod driver Michael Bethune, from Kirkcaldy, has just returned from a very successful trip to Northern Ireland where at the Ballymena Oval he added the European Championship to an already haul of titles over the past year, writes Jim Turner.

Michael is the present World Champion, a title he won at his home track, the Cowdenbeath Racewall, last year in a high speed all action race where he came under considerable pressure early on but was then able to ease away to win the coveted World and earned the right to paint his roof Gold.

“Since then”, Michael told me, “I have had a tremendous time.

"I won the Scottish Championship, a couple of domestic trophies as well as the track points title to finish what had been a wonderful season for me.”

He added: “ Mind you this season has so far been pretty good. I lost my ORCi title but won the Yokohama Championship at Ballymena and a fortnight ago the National Championship at Ringwood”.

“The British eluded me at the Racewall. I had started from pole but half way through the race got baulked by a back marker and had to settle for second place.

“Last weekend was a good one although it was a bit of a struggle. My car didn’t handle too well and pushed like mad on the bends but was quick on the straights. I had qualified well on Friday night, had a third and a fourth in my heats but wasn’t sure if I had pole. It wasn’t until Saturday that I found out that I had so didn’t change my car set up.

“My next important meeting is in a fortnight’s time when I defend my World Title down at Barford in the North East of England. My car goes quite well there so here’s hoping!”.