JUST because the Cowdenbeath Racewall is closed for the holiday break that doesn’t mean that it is all quiet - far from it, writes our Racewall scribe Jim Turner! There is plenty of work going on behind the scenes for the two big meetings in August – the BriSCA formula II semi-finals and then the 2 Litre National saloons, although this meeting is being promoted by Autospeed and not GMP.

A news update on Chris Burgoyne injured a couple of weeks ago, is that he has his brace fitted and the doctors are reasonably pleased with the x-rays although the need for an operation hasn’t been ruled out.

He is now on his way home where he will start his roads to recovery in familiar surroundings which will be a boon to everyone involved.

The new British Champion Craig Wallace (Tranent) was out and about this weekend sporting his black and white chequered roof which he won down at Bristol last Sunday.

There must be something about being a Wallace and the south west of England! Craig’s father Jimmy won both his World Titles in the south west - the first at Taunton in 1988 and then defended it at Newton Abbot the following year!

Wallace was the first Scot to win the World Championship and the National Points which he did in 1988, but retired four or five years later. When Craig started racing he quickly shot up the grades and has won the National Championship which he did at the Racewall.

With Burgoyne unlikely to be back in action this year Wallace now looks to be the favourite to win the Racewall track points championship, although Robbie Dawson (Aberdeen) will chase him all the way.

The Racewall based drivers have plenty of meetings that they can attend and in fact this weekend the penultimate World Championship qualifying round will take place at Buxton on Saturday afternoon. The last takes place at Skegness on July 20 giving the drivers around a fortnight to get their cars ready for the semis.

Over the holiday break the Racewall is getting a bit of a tidy up so it looks in good shape for when the racing returns for one of the busiests months for sometime.

However, this weekend the formula II drivers have a choice of Crimond or a World Championship qualifying round at Buxton whilst on Sunday there are meetings at Barford and Taunton to take in.

Gordon Moodie (Windygates), the present leader in the race for pole position in one of the semi-finals and also leading the National Points, will be at Buxton where he could go a long way to secure a front row if not a pole position start.

Newcomer Euan Millar (Lockerbie) is sitting in seventh place and if he can string together a few good results at Buxton then he might be able to snatch a front row start although more realistically a second row starts seems to be his best bet.

Other Scottish drivers on the grid are Wallace, Dawson and Dennis Middler (Carnoustie) whilst Liam Rennie (Dundee) and Stevie Forster (Carluke) are just out with the cut off point.

Moodie, who along with Rob Speak, has eleven National Points titles by being the top points scorer at the end of a season but this year the format has changed and now drivers require to be seeded into what is now called the National Series.

Over the months of September and October the drivers have 11 meetings to contest with the top points scorer racing with the silver roof in 2018.

To date Josh Coleman (Rochdale), Moodie, Burgoyne and Wallace have secured their places but there are a lot more up for grabs so it will be interesting to see who makes it!

On the 2 Litre National saloon front the race for the track points championship is a thrilling one with Ian McLaughlin (Auchterarder) leading the race but not being given any quarter by Ross Watters (Leven).

Both are head and shoulders above the other drivers and they have both being racing hard against each other but fairly and it has proved to be good to watch.

At this stage, with some additions still to be made, it looks like the front row of the World Final grid will be shared between the new British saloon Champion Shane Davies (Gravesend) and Deane Mayes (Diss) but Michael Allard (Great Yarmouth) and Daniel Parker (Norwich) look likely to be on row 2 with the defending champion Simon Welton (Norwich) on row 3. Welton is looking to make it a hat trick of wins – it has never been done as yet – but he is going to have to be at his very best to do so!

Scots in the top ten include McLaughlin, Watters, Irvine, Luke Grief (Stenhousemuir) and Graeme Shevill (Motherwell).

If you haven’t witnessed a 2 litre National saloon World Final at the Racewall then this is your chance to see one. It may not be run by the Racewall staff but boy does the action come thick and fast!

Over this weekend the Racewall drivers are in action at various tracks with a few of the formula II drivers at Crimond whilst some have headed to Buxton for the World Championship qualifying round.

At Crimond Laura Dawson (Aberdeen) got the meeting under way with a win in the white/yellow race whilst in the heats Robbie Dawson (Aberdeen) won the opening heat but then had to settle for second spot behind Mike Philip (Alves) in heat two.

Philip was soon through into the lead when the final started but was caught during the closing stages as Dawson went on to pick up his second win of the night where he led home Stuart Kelly (Ellon) and Philip.

The Grand National ended with Kelly going through to win from Philip and Edwin Middleton (Peterhead) with Dawson ending up in fifth place.

The 1300 saloons were at Crimond, 15 cars in action, with heat wins going to Grant McGowan (Grangemouth), Fraser Clark (Camelon) and Kev Baird (Glenrothes) whilst Lee Wilson (Comrie) rolled his car.

At Buxton Gordon Moodie (Windygates) won heat one with Euan Millar (Lockerbie) in fourth place whilst Michael Green (Bedworth) won heat two with Craig Wallace (Tranent) in third spot. Lee Dimmock (Congleton) won the consolation race before Green went on to win the final by under a second from Moodie and Wallace with Millar just outside the points. Moodie then won the Grand National with Wallace in seventh and Millar in eighth place.

On Sunday Wallace won the opening heat with Faye Smith (Macclesfield) winning heat two. Wallace then won the final leading home Millar and Garry Sime (Dundee) with the latter winning the Grand National. However spare a though for Holly Glen (Inchture) who went to Crimond on Saturday night and retired with flames coming out of her exhaust and in her words, "singed one of my eyebrows” Holly went home repaired the car and then drove it down to Barford to race.

In the stock rods Cameron Doak (Carluke) and Tam Tweedie (Carluke) won the stock rod heats with Doak winning the final.

At Crimond on Sunday McGowan went on to win the Munster trophy and then the “Dash for the Cash.”

Moodie travelled down to Taunton on Sunday where he won his heat then the final.

Well the GMP drivers are in for a busy weekend with racing at Skegness this Thursday and then over the weekend when the formula II and 2 litre national saloon drivers have their UK Challenge Trophy up for grabs.