THE stock car drivers turned up at the Cowdenbeath Racewall to find that the track was dry on Saturday night and it stayed like that throughout the meeting although the temperature did drop as things progressed.

The British and European formula II champion Chris Burgoyne was in top form winning both the heats as well as the final, a feat that James Strath emulated in the 2 litre National saloons.

Kieran Howie brought his formula II to the track, it’s the ex-Forster car, and it looked very sleek in its new paint scheme. However, Howie was robbed of a debut win in the car when he was penalised by the steward for an infringement.

Euan Millar had a disastrous night in the formula IIs blowing an engine in practice and whilst a replacement power plant was soon in place it just wouldn’t run properly and he retired from the meeting.

Making his ORCi stock rod debut was Chris Paul, from Crimond, but his meeting was ruined after he hit a patch of oil when the car ahead of him blew an engine and he crashed out with Simon Morris.

Leslie Paterson picked up his first win in his prostox leading the final from start to finish.

Amongst the formula II drivers at the track were local drivers Kieran Howie (Dunfermline), Paul Reid (Cowdenbeath) and Mark Somerville (Kirkcaldy).

The opening heat of the night was a white/yellow challenge and whilst Alex Gault led the pack away, Howie soon caught and passed him to take the lead. Howie was first home but had been penalised two places by the steward for an infringement. This elevated Gault into the winners circle, his first formula II win, with Ryan Farquhar the runner up whilst Somerville was fourth.

Heat one saw Gault go straight into the lead but he had a scary moment when he drifted wide on the pit bend and literally drove around it resting the car against the wall. Shortly afterwards he retired after blowing his engine. Chris Burgoyne was making light of the opposition and he charged through the field to win from Marc Fortune and Dennis Middler with Reid in seventh, Howie ninth and Somerville in tenth place.

Burgoyne then took his car through for another win in heat two where he led home Stevie Forster and Craig Wallace.

Nigel Davies led the field away when the final started but so too had Howie and it wasn’t long before the lead changed hands. However, no sooner had Howie taken the lead than he spun on the pit bend with Farquhar taking over at the head of the field. Davies and Fortune bounced off each other on the pit bend but both carried on.

Burgoyne took advantage of their clash to move into second whilst Davies and John Hogg retired in quick succession. Just before the half distance Burgoyne moved into the lead and quickly opened a sizeable gap over his chasers.

Mark Somerville retired whilst Farquhar dropped a couple of places. Burgoyne went on to make it three wins in a row when he took the chequer ahead of Fortune and Middler.

Fortune went on to win the Grand National from Howie with Middler third and Burgoyne sixth.

Callum McIvor was back in the 2 litre saloons but there were a few others missing. Local drivers in action were Kyle Irvine (Glenrothes), James Strath (Cellardykes), Ross Watters (Leven) and Callum McIvor (Inverkeithing).

Heat one was led for most of the time by Greg Honeyman but on the last lap Strath had caught him. On the last bend Strath eased the Honeyman car over before slipping through to win from G. Honeyman, Marc Honeyman and Irvine with Watters in eighth place.

In heat two the race followed a similar pattern although this time Strath took the lead earlier and went on to win from Watters and M. Honeyman with Irvine this time sixth

G. Honeyman led the field away when the final started getting the better of the starts with Kes Watson tucking in behind. Strath moved into third ahead of M. Honeyman whilst Ian McLaughlin and Watters were fighting it out over fifth. Watters managed to get ahead of M. Honeyman whilst the gap between G. Honeyman and Strath was diminishing all the time.

On the last lap they were nose to tail with Strath again getting the better of the exchanges to win his third race of the night with Watters in third place with Irvine again sixth.

G. Honeyman won the Allcomers race from M. Honeyman and Watters who was just ahead of Irvine.

There was a good turn out of ORCi stock rods with Chris Paul making his debut and local drivers were James Matson (Glenrothes), Jim Pitcaithly (Kirkcaldy), Simon Laing (Springfield) and Michael Bethune (Kirkcaldy).

Bethune won the opening heat from Craig Tosh and Leon Stewart with Pitcaithly in fifth, Matson seventh and Laing in eighth place. Matson came out on top in heat two where he led home Kevin Forrester, Tosh, Pitcaithly and Bethune.

Chris Hutchison made the better of the starts when the final started but soon had Tosh reeling him in. Matson made contact with Paul and had to retire whilst Paul Prentice spun on the pit bend and restarted. Tosh was through into the lead on lap three running ahead of Hutchison and Forrester. Bethune and Pitcaithly clashed with Bethune having to retire. Forrester was making up ground on Tosh whilst just behind James Gray and Martin Rankine were squabbling over fourth. Then disaster, Prentice’s engine blew going into the turnstile bend, dropping its oil on to the track and catching out Paul and Simon Morris who slid into the wall and suspending the race.

Tosh led on the restart but lost out to Forrester who went on to win from Tosh and Pitcaithly with Laing in tenth.

There weren’t too many prostox around although amongst them were local drivers, Robert Fawcett (Ballingry) and Gordon Myers (Dunfermline).

John Mason won heat one from Fawcett and Leslie Paterson with Myers in fourth and then heat two from Paterson and Myers. Paterson then led the final from start to finish fending off challenges from Fawcett on a number of occasions but in the end crossed the line clear of Fawcett and Mason.

This Saturday the BriSCA formula IIs are back in action along with the 2 Litre National saloons but this time they have the 1300saloons, the minis and the microf2 drivers as the supporting formula. The minis are racing for their Easter trophy with the meeting starting at 6pm as usual.

Down at King’s Lynn in a World of Shale qualifying round the only Scottish driver in the field was the National Points Champion, Gordon Moodie (Windygates).

Moodie qualified for the final when he brought his car home in fourth place in his heat and then in a 36 car final ended up in third place.