IT turned out to be rather a wet stock car meeting at the Cowdenbeath Racewall on Saturday night but that didn’t detract too much from the on track action, writes our Racewall scribe Jim Turner.

There was a minute's silence prior to the start of the meeting allowing the fans, drivers and officials to pay their respects to Sandy Strath who sadly passed away after becoming ill in the pits last week.

Sandy, who was a former Scottish Banger Champion, was father of saloon driver James Strath.

Ministox driver Michael Mitchell escaped unhurt after he rolled his car during the opening heat when he got tangled with other cars and resulted in Taylor Borthwick crashing into the Armco. In the formula IIs there was a six car pile up which blocked the track and suspended the race at the start to the second heat.

In the saloons Barry Glen was eased into the turnstile bend wall and managed to get two wheels off the ground as a result and managed to drive the car down the straight before coming to a sudden stop.

There was another good turn out of formula IIs which included newcomer Alex Gault making his debut whilst Willie Lindsay returned after a few seasons away. Chris Chance and John Broatch were back up from the north of England. Local drivers in action were Paul and Craig Reid (Cowdenbeath).

The first heat saw C. Reid lead for sometime but lost out to Chris Burgoyne just before the half distance. However, when Robbie Dawson was shunted into the wall the race was suspended. On the restart Burgoyne eased away before going on to win from Dennis Middler and John Hogg with P. Reid fifth and C. Reid seventh.

In heat two there was a pile up on the back straight which put paid to quite a few cars. Gault led the field away and did so until almost half distance when he lost out to Dennis Middler who won by a considerable margin from Burgoyne and P. Reid.

Gault led the cars away when the final started but when he was caught by Euan Millar the cars tangled and spun. This handed the lead to Hogg who eased away from P. Reid and Broatch.

Middler was going well and making up ground whilst Burgoyne’s progress was being hampered by a misfire. Middler moved into second place but Hogg had a big lead and went through for a comfortable win over Middler with Forster coming through into third place whilst P. Reid dropped back to finish in seventh place.

Gault led the cars away when the Grand National started but in the end Craig Wallace won from Middler and Millar with Hogg finishing in fifth place with P. Reid eighth.

The 2 litre National saloons welcomed back Paul Honeyman to their ranks whilst Derek Marshall made his debut. Local drivers in action included Kyle Irvine (Glenrothes), Derek Duff (Cupar), Derek Marshall (Cowdenbeath) and Ross Watters (Leven).

The opening heat was a cracking race and after the stoppage to allow Glen out of his car

Ian McLaughlin, Graeme Shevill and Watters scrapped over the lead during the closing stages of the race with the leader getting pushed wide and dropping to third where he would have to fight back to get into the lead. In the end McLaughlin just made it to win from Shevill and Watters with Irvine fourth and Marshall in seventh.

Heat two saw Marc Honeyman go through to win from Duff and Greg Honeyman with Irvine in seventh and Marshall tenth.

G. Honeyman and Duff were the leading duo when the final started but M. Honeyman made a good start and he was soon reeling them in. Watters was soon reeling in the leaders but on the back straight he tangled with Duff sending Shevill into a spin and all three ended up out of the race. When it looked as if it was going to be a Honeyman 1-2, Greg slowed to retire. M. Honeyman went on to pick up his second win of the night and he led home McLaughlin and P. Honeyman with Irvine in fourth and Marshall sixth.

The hot rods were contesting another of their World Championship qualifying heats, sponsored by Dechmont Forklift Trucks. Craig McLaren returned to the hot rod scene after being away for a spell whilst Robert McDonald was the visiting driver.

McDonald won the opening heat from Graeme Callender and Ian Donaldson. McDonald again came out on top in heat two just pipping Callender on the last lap whilst Donaldson was again in third.

The rain was at its worst when the hot rod final started with Callender finding sufficient grip on the outside line to go around the outside of Jim Cowie to take the lead. Within a few laps the cars had bunched up on the main straight with McDonald and Donaldson touching with the former spinning out the following lap. In the end Callender was well clear of the field and went on to pick up his first win of the night leading home Donaldson and Steven Armit.

There was a good turn out of minis for the “Let the Sparks Fly” Trophy including the track points champion Steven Burgoyne. Local drivers included Gary Paterson (Saline), Danny Whyte (Lochgelly), Mitch Gold (Leven) and Michael Mitchell (Lochgelly)

After Mitchell had rolled his car during the early laps of heat one Burgoyne just got the better of Sean Naismith on the run up to the finish line with Gold in third spot and just ahead of Whyte with Paterson in sixth place. Burgoyne had an easier run in heat two where he picked up his second win of the night when he led home Gold, Taylor Borthwick, Paterson and Whyte.

When the final started Lauren Ford was the initial leader but was soon caught by Danny Whyte and Mika Millar. However, Burgoyne was on a charge and he worked his way through the field before going on to win from Whyte and Teri Linden with Paterson in eighth and Gold in ninth place.

There were 17 microf2s at the track including four newcomers and there was some close and fast racing. Local drivers included Leon Muir (Thornton) and Rebecca Reid (Cowdenbeath) although the latter crashed out during heat two.

Lewis Clark Burgoyne won the opening heat from Callan Walker and Lewis Walker. Heat two saw C. Walker win from Jamie Dawson and Joelan Maynard. Heat three ended with Dawson winning from Maynard and Clark Burgoyne.

This Saturday the BriSCA formula IIs and 2 Litre National saloons are back in action and this time they have the ORCi stock rods and prostox on the bill. The racing starts as usual at 6pm