I 'MANAGED' to catch up with one of the GMP race managers at Cowdenbeath, Keith Ramsay, and in between coffee breaks had a good chat about the season past and what will be on offer at the Racewall in 2017, writes our correspondent Jim Turner.

“I was quite pleased about the season that has just finished,” he told me.

“There has been an increase in the driver numbers and the attendances have grown so there is a lot to be grateful for. We must be doing something right.

“The staff we have just now are doing a good job; we have a lot of youngsters who are interested in being marshals which is a boost. Stuart Donnelly has now left due to work commitments but we are well covered in the box”

“We have some really big meetings next year that I am really looking forward to and we are already planning ahead. We are running the saloon World Final here in conjunction with our friends at Autospeed and we have had a long and fruitful relationship with them. Both Crispen Rosevear and Andrew Carter are regular visitors to our track so we are looking forward to this joint venture with them.

“Not only that but we have the formula II semi-finals to stage which means we have two major weekend meetings in August which is going to put a big strain on the staff and officials. We need to get everything spot on for these meetings and they need to run smoothly. There will be 56 World Championship semi-finalists for that meeting plus the cars for the domestic races plus the other formulae racing that night.

“We also have the ORCi stock rod European Championship, the MASCARS are back along with the stoxkart who are racing for their Scottish Championship, the Banger World Cup as well as the Heritage cars Gold Cup – which is there equivalent to their World Final and we also have the Hot saloons coming down from Crimond. There are also the Scottish Championships so we are in for a busy time ahead”.

He added: “Looking back at this season, probably one of the highlights was local lad Kyle Irvine winning the British.

"He would probably not have been anyone’s favourite to win but he did everything right and it all fell into place for him. Mind you on the Sunday he didn’t have things his own way and he fought back to win. The fans loved it and the infamous Cowdenbeath roar greeted him as he crossed the finish line.

“It has maybe a year of the underdog with Paul Honeyman winning the Scottish, Ian McLaughlin the Superbowl and Barry Glen the Gordon Barclay Memorial trophy. Barry had a great Sunday where he won all four races.

“Ryan Muirhead won his first final and walked away with the Turner Trophy whilst newcomer Jamie Connacher who was straight out of the minis proved to be a revelation. He took to saloon racing like a duck to water, won a couple of races but also got involved in some spectacular shunts – one to watch.

“There were a few problems in the saloons as well, especially at the Scottish where three cars failed post race scrutineering on weight issues and they were removed from the results. Ross Graham failed on a technicality and he unfortunately was suspended. Don’t think he knew it was incorrect and I hope he will return next year and carry on where he left off. Graham has proved to be one of the quicker drivers and could well be challenging for championships next year.

“Andrew Carter spotted a problem with Luke Grief’s car when it was being post race scrutineered after the Superbowl. They took away one of his rear wishbones for inspection and found that it didn’t comply and have issued him with a 6 months suspension. I think that he is going to appeal this we will need to wait and see."

Keith went on: “We had slightly bigger formula II fields than last year which was against the National trend. There were 13 different winners in 34 races which is good.

"Chris Burgoyne was the class of the field at the Racewall and won the track points whilst Gordon Moodie got the National Points title back. Dennis Middler won the Scottish Championship but then destroyed his newly painted wing with a spectacular rollover the next time he raced.

“We are thinking of maybe reintroducing more trophy meetings next year - don’t know as yet what but we will have something in place for the start of the season.”

“The ORCi stock rod European Championship is in May and will be run over two days. Hopefully we will have a big field of cars.

“We have three national hot rod qualifying round between now and their World Championship at Ipswich in July and three more before the season ends. Billy Bonnar leads the points just now from Ian Donaldson and Tam Rutherford. Despite their cars being expensive there has been an upturn in their numbers and this could be down to John Sibbald being their Scottish Ambassador. Hats off to Roy Anderson who travels down each time they are on the format. The more cars we get then the more qualifiers we could get into the World Final”.

Keith concluded: “The classic hot rods have three meetings at the Racewall and I have been told that there are 10 cars ready to race with the possibility of another three being readied for the start of the season.

“There have been quite a few enquiries regarding the minis, which is a good sign. There were a couple of drivers who retired throughout the year but it looks as if their places will be filled and perhaps one or two more in action. I think that Steven Burgoyne will be the driver they all have to catch next year but look out for Taylor Borthwick and Teri Linden giving him a run for his money.

“One of the new ministox drivers will be Hannah Borthwick who has just finished her spell in the microf2s. The numbers are looking good for the micros next year so hopefully it will be another good year for them.

“Jamie Dawson and Lewis Clark Burgoyne are our top two drivers but they don’t have it all their own way. Ross McLaughlin and Billie Dawson have done well in their first year and hopefully they will carry on their progress.

“I haven been pleasantly surprised at the popularity of the 1300 saloons and we have seen their numbers double over the year. Lot of enquiries for next year so hopefully the fields will grow even bigger. Barford are going to be racing them in 2017 which can only be a good thing.

"I got into stock cars through bangers. I used to spectate but then decided to build a banger. I got second in the Scottish one year. Gordon McDougall then got me involved trackside and I did a lot of work on the team bus, building the control box and catch fencing. When McDoog promoted at Warton, Barrow and Crimond it was hard work but good days out. Now I am joint racing manager – how things have snowballed!”