“MY best ever season in stock cars ended on a downer when I was involved in a shunt during the formula II Grand National Championship at Barford and ended up injuring my thumb,” Chris Burgoyne told me when we met up at the garage at Airth, writes our Cowdenbeath Racewall scribe Jim Turner. “When I got home I headed to my local hospital but my thumb was badly swollen and I had to return later in the week to be told me that I had a fracture, had damaged the ligaments and had taken the muscle off the bone. There was also a sliver of bone which had attached itself to the muscle which didn’t help! I have visited a specialist at Ipswich where I have had laser magnetic treatment. The cast is now off and whilst it is much better I have to be careful what I am doing.”

The Burgoyne name is a well known one at Cowdenbeath where Chris’s dad Ernie and uncle Harry both won saloon World Championships at the Racewall. Chris won his formula II World Championship at Cowdenbeath and his brother Steven races a mini whilst son Lewis races a microf2!

“I did try to race at the last weekend at the Racewall but I was in a lot of pain and had to watch as Gordon Moodie won the James Clarke Cochrane Memorial Trophy then Gregor Turner the Champion of Champions trophy on the Sunday – both trophies I would have liked to defend.

“My injury has delayed my plans for the new season. I am building a new tarmac chassis for 2017 and converting a bus to take my cars but both had to be put on hold until my thumb healed. We were also planning to revamp my son Lewis’ microf2 but I have even had to shelve that just now”

Added Chris: “ I had chased the formula II National Points Championship in 2015 but was probably too late in deciding to mount a serious challenge. By the time that I did George MacMillan Jnr had a three figure lead although I got it down to just over 20 points at one time. There was an incident at Belle Vue which was quite controversial with the spectators having differing views about the outcome. It probably highlighted the chase and brought more spectators to watch the remaining meetings which went right to the penultimate meeting of the season.

“It certainly was a big well done to George to win the National Points but where has the silver roof been this year? – every place bar once at the Racewall!

“However, the challenge for the silver roof set me up for 2016 and this year we seem to have managed to get everything right. Everyone knows what they have to do and we are doing it right and as a result the car has been very competitive. We decided that as a family we would have fun and enjoy our racing this year. We are all into stock cars and that includes my wife Isa and sons Lewis and Chris Jnr.

“We all want to win titles and the main one on the list is the World Championship. I won the World at Cowdenbeath in 2002 and became the youngest driver to do so. So far no one has beaten that – yet! This year the final was on shale at Mildenhall and the semi-finals at King’s Lynn also a shale track. I had sold my shale car and bought a new TLF chassis but by the time that it was ready for action I only managed two shale meetings to get it set up.

"Most of my points were scored on tarmac tracks and your best five scores dictates your semi-final start. I was second in the points so I started from the front row of the second semi. Despite having a few shale specialists in my semi-final I managed to win it. I had hoped for a fourth or fifth but I was over the moon with the win. It meant that I would start the final from the outside of the front row!”

Chris explained: “It rained on World Final day and Mildenhall became “Muddyhall”! If you go off the racing line you got bogged down in the mud and I was eased wide at the start and lost ground. I got going again but got tangled up and had to retire with a puncture. Wim Peeters drove a great race and nearly won the race by almost a lap!

“Later, when the track dried I got a good result in the consolation heat and despite being spun at the start to the final ended up in third place”

“By this time I had already won two of the major titles. I had headed to Nutts Corner in Northern Ireland in the middle of June for the British Championship. The car went well during the qualifying heats on Saturday night and as a result I started the Championship race on Sunday on the outside of the front row. It had rained though the night and just prior to the start of the race there was another shower. You could see that there was a good chance that the track would dry so whilst I kept on my wet tyres I used my dry set up. It certainly worked. I was soon leading but over the second part of the race there were a few race suspensions. At the last I had Graham Fegan on my back bumper and I knew that if I didn’t make a good start I would end up in the fence. Luckily all my starts had been good and so was this one! It was a bit emotional at the end – it was the only title that my dad hadn’t won when he raced saloons!

He added: “At the end of July we were at Northampton for the European Championship and again I found my car was on the pace. However I got a lot of damage but managed to get the car back ready for the Grand National. The draw for the European is a public one and so far I hadn’t been able to get a good draw so I sent Lewis up to draw my grid place. He drew third on the grid!”

“Dave Polley was the car ahead of me and I gave him a good hit to move under him but he came back at me with an even harder hit. I returned the compliment at the next bend, just as hard, and retook the lead. After that I was able to pull away from the pack and then being careful when I lapped the back markers. It was a great feeling when the chequer appeared. I suppose it equalled the feeling I had when I won the World knowing that again I had won a major championship away from home and against most of the top drivers in the sport.”

“I had lost my Scottish Championship to Dennis Middler at the Racewall in May when I had to take avoiding action to miss a shunt. My car shed a wheel and I ended up crashing out. Just before going to Ireland I won the F2National Championship at Buxton in June. I was delighted at how the car performed there and it turned out to be an easy win and set me up for the trip to Ireland”.

“I had won the Racewall track points title before the last Racewall meeting and decided to try and race at the last weekend meeting at the Racewall. I knew that a lot of my fans would be there and I had the James Clarke Cochrane Memorial to defend. As it turned out my thumb was too painful to do things justice and watched as Gordon took the trophy and didn’t race on the Sunday.”

With the building of the bus I asked Chris if the bus was for his formula 1 car? ” He grinned and replied: “I would like to do formula I for at least a full season or two before I do retire but not just now. I am sticking to the formula IIs and am building a new chassis just now and intend to have two tarmac cars plus my shale car for this year. It will happen but not just yet.”

“I intend to have my second tarmac car ready for the start of the season and plan to have all three cars ready to go. I have a mind to go to the World Cup at Venray in Holland next year but we will have to wait and see what happens”.

“On the mechanic side I get help from my Dad, Ernie, and my brother Steven, when he is not racing as well as from Panda, Mark, Dylan, Kev and Big Willie. My sponsors, who are a great help to me, are Roundabout Travel, Bill Livingston, J Davidson, Scrap Metal Processors, W A Gormley – Carnwath, JB Race Engine, E Burgoyne and Sons, H and J Burgoyne and Painted by Tony.”