THE final practice session at the Cowdenbeath Racewall finally gave the drivers a chance to try their cars on a dry track and it didn’t pass with out drama!, writes our Racewall scribe Jim Turner.

Ministox driver Logan Bruce rolled his car, the saloon of Ross Watters (Leven) shed a wheel, Ryan Adamson (Freuchie) had his throttle jam on his formula II whilst Classic hot rod driver Kenny Purdie blew his diff and managed to stop his car before it locked up!

Purdie quickly changed his diff and brought the car back out bringing back a lot of memories of hot rod racing of days gone by when he brought out his MK2 Escort. It went well and just can’t wait to see a healthy field of these cars in action.

There were quite a few formula IIs in action with Craig Wallace and Stevie Forster the quickest. Forster seems to be happier with his car after getting in a couple of runs on a dry surface.

Holly Glen had her car up and running whilst Ryan and Neil Farquhar brought their cars down from Crimond. Ryan is now using one of the Kelly’s cars and soon got used to the car's handling whilst Neil was to suffer from overheating.

Mark Somerville (Kirkcaldy) had another good practice outing whilst Adamson’s was curtailed after he hit the wall bending the side rails as he did so and the car is looking very sorry for itself.

The 2 litre saloon drivers enjoyed their run when the track dried and were soon powering their cars around the oval at full power.

Barry Russell was certainly not hanging about but neither was Watters whose re-panelled car looks very smart and was soon running at full power. Watters will be looking to get the season off to a good start as he has his eyes set on moving up the World ranking chart to get a better grid position for the World Final.

The British Champion Kyle Irvine (Glenrothes) had another solid practice session and he will be keen to get the season underway.

Mind you there are quite a few Scottish drivers who have a similar idea.

Greg and Marc Honeyman were back and going well and they too will be looking to make a good start to the season.

James Strath (Cellerdyke) brought out his brand new saloon and gave it quite a few early shake down laps the car is painted in a similar livery to last season’s car and by the end of practice was going quickly.

Tam Rutherford Jnr had another good session and will be one to look out for during the opening weeks of the season whilst Robin Copland made a surprise appearance with his car.

The ORCi stock rods turned up in their numbers with Jim Pitcaithly (Kirkcaldy) and Michael Bethune (Kirkcaldy) going well but mind you they were just that wee bit slower than the open Scottish Champion Kevin Forrester.

Forrester was just that slightly bit faster and will be hoping that he can carry on this form over the year.

Bethune will be looking forward to defending his European Championship in May but Pitcaithly would like nothing better than to have the red and yellow chequers on his roof to go along with the black and white of the British Championship.

Simon Laing (Springfield) is getting to grips with his new car whilst James Matson (Glenrothes) was showing a good turn of pace which should see him move up to the red grade before too long.

Craig Tosh is back after racing down south for a season and he quickly got used to the track chalking up some quick laps.

The Barford track points champion Trevor Calvin, Martin Rankine, Leon Stewart, Paul Prentice and James Gray, both had pleasing runs and all in all the stock rod season has all the makings of a good one.

There were quite a few 1300 saloons at the track with Fraser Anderson (Cowdenbeath) in good form but Grant McGowan was not that far adrift time wise. When Brian Allan appears I should be quite an interesting dice between them for the track points.

“Fabby” Stu McCaig was running in a new engine but Jeff Cosans (Dunfermline), Mike Myers (Cowdenbeath) and Ross Forrest were all on much the same pace which is going to make it very interesting indeed!

Fraser Clark brought over his car and whilst he had quite a bit of work to do to it he did get a run to set him up for the new season.

Bruce certainly livened up the ministox practice when he rolled his car but thankfully stepped out a bit shaken but alright.

Newcomers Declan Honeyman and Hannah Borthwick were going better and Honeyman just might give some of the established drivers a run for their money.

Terri Linden was the quickest of the ministox drivers and she will be one who will be looking to challenge for all honours that are up for grabs this year.

Mika Millar was going well and there wasn’t much to choose between him and Bruce speed wise.

James Mooney and Lewis Gilchrist put in quite a few tidy laps whilst newcomer Jamie Stewart (Glenrothes) had a pleasing first run.

The mirof2s buzzed around making light of the conditions with Kara Russell and Rhys Anderson chalking up as many laps as they could to get used to the track.

Ross McLaughlin and Leon Muir (Thornton) were quick and will pick up a few wins this year giving the established starts Jamie Dawson, Lewis Clark Burgoyne and Rebecca Reid a run for their money.

Prostox drivers Rab Fawcett (Glenrothes) and Gordon Myers (Dunfermline) were giving their cars an outing although Fawcett ran into mechanical problems and slowed.

Down at King’s Lynn on Saturday night formula II drivers were in action with Gordon Moodie (Windygates) picking up a seventh in his heat, but retired from the final with a misfire before finishing in sixth place in the Grand National. Dennis Middler brought his car home in 12th in the consolation but wasn’t classified in either the final or the Grand National.

Newcomer Euan Millar didn’t get his season off to the start that he would have liked and ended up rolling his car.

All were to head to Stoke for the Sunday meeting but it was cancelled.

Robbie Dawson took his car to Birmingham on Saturday night where he was 6th in his heat, wasn’t classified in the final and then brought his car home in 8th place in the Grand National.

On Sunday the formula II cars moved over to a wet Skegness where Millar, Marc Fortune and Dawson all qualified for the final. Paul Moss won the final from Millar with Dawson in tenth place.

Well that is the practice session over for the Racewall drivers and for most of them the season starts in earnest this weekend. Getting the Scottish season off to a flying start are the BriSCA formula II, the 2 litre National saloon, 1300saloons and the Rookie bangers.

As usual it’s a 6pm start so come along and see how the drivers fare at the season opener.