IT turned out to be one of the wettest stock car meetings this season at the Cowdenbeath Racewall and whilst the first two races were run in the dry after that it was torrential at times, writes Racewall writer Jim Turner.

The track was so wet that after the opening microf2 race the remainder of their races were cancelled due to the weather conditions.

Two Fifers went on to dominate the racing with Paul Reid running away with the second heat then the final, whilst Ross Watters won both his heats and had it not for being spun at the start to the final could well have won that as well!

With the formula II semi-finals now but a week away Tony Blackburn, Kelvyn Marshall and Ollie Hertzog brought their cars up to try and squeeze as much out of them as possible only to end up with a setting for the rain. Jason Blacklock made his debut after a couple of practice meetings.

Gavin Taber and Daz Owen were amongst the visitors in the classic hot rods and whilst they were impressive in the wet conditions they struggled to get the best out of their cars.

The ministox drivers were in good form although there quite a few spinners and there wasn’t a lap where more than one car didn’t bounce off the wall as they struggled to find grip.

Ex- saloon driver Mike Robertson had a busy night mechanicing for sons Harry in the microf2s and Alex in the minis!

The formula II drivers had been hoping for a dry evening's racing but after the opening heat they ended up having to combat the elements as well with traction difficult to find.

Local drivers on the grid were Gregor Turner (Dunfermline), Kieran Howie (Dunfermline), Paul and Craig Reid (Cowdenbeath), Ian Thompson (Windygates) and Gordon Moodie (Windygates).

Whilst C. Reid was the initial heat one leader, within a couple of laps Turner was ahead although he soon had Thompson in his mirrors. However, Thompson soon had Moodie and Craig Wallace to contend with and a few laps later was relegated to fourth. The gap to the leader began to diminish and with a handful of laps Moodie and Wallace swept through.

Despite Wallace’s challenge Moodie held on to win with Turner in third spot.

By the time that the cars appeared for heat two the heavens had opened and the track was wet and slippery with some water ponding at the pit bend. Again it was C. Reid who led at the start but he then lost out to Turner then John Hogg.

The latter took the lead soon afterwards but then lost out to Thompson and P. Reid who were running nose to tail. The outcome was decided after Thompson and Howie tangled allowing P. Reid clear of the field and he won by a comfortable margin from Wallace and Dennis Middler with Turner in sixth and C. Reid in tenth place.

When the final started C. Reid led the field away but next time around Turner was ahead although being closed down by John Hogg and P. Reid.

When Turner’s car started to misfire he slowed to retire handing the lead to Hogg. His time at the front was short lived with P. Reid diving through into the lead. Hogg became under pressure from Robbie Dawson and with Dennis Middler and Wallace not that far adrift. Wallace overtook Middler and began to reel in the dicing Hogg and Dawson.

As the laps dwindled Wallace was making up ground at a fast rate and when Dawson did pass Hogg he found Wallace in contention. By now P. Reid was well clear and he took the chequer to win his first final of the season with Wallace just getting ahead of Dawson on the last lap to grab second whilst Thompson finished in seventh place.

There was a good turn out of saloon drivers with Euan Mathieson having his first run at the Racewall whilst Ross Forrest was having his first saloon race. Local drivers on the grid included Kyle Irvine (Glenrothes), Raymond Dick (Glenrothes), Euan Mathieson (Lochgelly), Ross Watters (Leven) and Alex Cunningham (Leven).

The opening heat saw Ryan Muirhead lead the field away with Robin Copland running ahead of Tam Rutherford Jnr but when Muirhead crashed the race was suspended. Ross Graham was the new leader and he led the cars away on the restart from Watters but next time around Watters was ahead.

Once in front Watters eased away from the pack to record an easy win over Greg Honeyman and Ian McLaughlin with Dick in eighth, Cunningham and Mathieson. Dick led the cars away when heat two started but again it turned out to be Watters they all had to watch and he literally drove through the field to win from Paul Honeyman and Irvine with Dick in ninth place.

Watters was spun not long after the final started but whipped his car around and started adrift of the field. Aided by a race suspension he ended up as the runner-up just a couple of car lengths adrift of the winner P. Honeyman with G. Honeyman third.

John McFarlane (Dunfermline) and Graeme Allister (Dunfermline) were the local drivers in action in the classic hot rods.

Heat one saw Graham McCabe move quickly into the lead but was to lose the lead to Kenny Purdie. Purdie then tangled with Allister handing the lead back to McCabe who won from Daz Owen and Gavin Taber with McFarland fourth and Allister fifth.

In heat two Taber was quick to hit the front and once there he went on for a comfortable win over Purdie and McCabe. With Allister fifth and McFarlane in sixth place.

Allister led the cars away when the final started with McFarlane in close order. However, Purdie was a man on a mission and he charged through the field to record an easy win. Taber got the better of McCabe on the last lap to grab second with Allister in fifth and McFarlane seventh.

There was a good turn out of ministox drivers including Gary Paterson (Saline), Danny Whyte (Lochgelly), William Wallace (Leven), Jamie Stewart (Glenrothes) and Michael Mitchell (Lochgelly).

Logan Bruce won the opening ministox race from Teri Linden and Paterson whilst in heat two it was Steven Burgoyne who won from Paterson and Charlie Folan with Mitchell in eighth. The final went to Declan Honeyman who was well clear of Alex Robertson and Mitchell .

In the only microf2 race Kara Russell went through to win the Turner Trophy where she led home Freya Lovett and Harry Robertson with Rebecca Reid (Cowdenbeath) in seventh place.

This weekend it is a two day event with the main race, one of the more important on the BriSCA calendar, on the Saturday night being the formula II World Championship semi-finals. 56 drivers have qualified for the two separate semi finals with the top ten finishers in each securing their places on the World Final grid.

Also racing on Saturday night are the 2 litre saloons and the stock rods whilst on the Sunday the 2 litre saloons are racing for the Joan Purdie Memorial Trophy.

On Saturday there is practice during the afternoon with the meeting starting at 5pm whilst it is the usual 1pm start on Sunday. What a weekend!