THE stock car action at the Cowdenbeath Racewall turned out to be pretty hectic on Saturday night although Scottish formula II drivers Craig Wallace and Gordon Moodie lifted the roof when they came out on top in two action packed semi-finals, writes our Racewall scribe Jim Turner.

However Rob Mitchell spectacularly rolled his car during the opening formula II semi final whilst Stuart Shevill Snr came back out of retirement for the Joan Purdie memorial and promptly rolled his car, although he did have a little help from behind!

There was a massive pile up in the first of the semi-finals which suspended the race and left quite a few cars looking very sorry for themselves.

On Sunday it was wet but some of the racing was exciting with the saloon drivers finding the grip close to the wall and as such there were a few drivers sent spinning. Alan Ainslie and Ross Graham fell out and had a bit of bumper shoving. The ministox drivers were also in good form with Teri Linden going through to win the final.

Local drivers in action included Gregor Turner (Dunfermline), Kieran Howie (Dunfermline), Paul and Craig Reid (Cowdenbeath), Ian Thompson (Kennoway) and Gordon Moodie (Windygates) although only Moodie had qualified for the semis.

The first of the semi-finals got off to a hectic start with David Polley going into the lead but the race was suspended after Liam Bentham was sent crashing into the wall and was promptly collected by the pack with no fewer than seven cars sidelined. Polley again led on the re-start but on lap three there was another stoppage after Stephen Smith crashed into the wall and required assistance out of his car. On the restart Polley now had Wallace in close order with Kelvyn Marshall, just ahead of Andrew Palmer and Mike Green. Polley made a good restart but Wallace managed to keep in touch then closed the gap. Dennis Middler was forced wide and dropped places but to a great roar from the crowd Wallace got inside Polley to lead. However, just after taking the lead Mitchell rolled his car suspending the race. Wallace made a good restart and then went on to win from Polley and Marshall with the other Scottish hope, Middler finishing just outside the top ten.

Semi-final 2 was led off by Moodie but was soon stopped after Philip Mann crashed into the wall. Moodie made a good restart from Adam Rubery with Wrench running ahead of Millar but when Lee Darby spun he was tee-boned by James Rogers stopping the race. The re-start was brief with Matt Everard and Gary Allan tangling on the main straight.

Moodie made another good re-start but Rubery was slow off the mark and it was Wrench who moved into second. However, Robbie Dawson was making inroads through the field and he caught up with Wrench. Moodie was clear and he went through to win from Dawson and Wrench with Millar in fifth place.

Heat three saw Marc Fortune go through to win from Stevie Forster and P. Reid with Turner fifth and just ahead of C. Reid with Howie in ninth place.

The final was for the Chapman Trophy with C. Reid leading the field away but within a couple of laps Turner was through into the lead. John Hogg was soon leading the chase but towards the end of the race he was moved off line as Dawson, Moodie and Wallace overtook. Dawson was pushed wide the following lap with Moodie now second but with Wallace on his back bumper. Pete Davidson spun his car but the field managed to avoid his car with Turner going through to win from Moodie and Wallace with Thompson in eighth with the first three being presented with their trophies from Chris Burgoyne.

There was a veterans race with quite a few of the “elder” formula II drivers behind the wheel. Jimmy Wallace went through to win from Keith Stanford (Wormit) and Ronnie Ford.

There were quite a few English saloon drivers in action for the forthcoming World Championship including Shane Davies, Deane Mayes, Daniel Parker and Simon Vennie whilst the local drivers were Kyle Irvine (Glenrothes), Euan Mathieson (Lochgelly) and Ross Watters (Leven),

Heat one was won by Ross Graham and Watters won heat two from Davies and Irvine. Parker then won the final from Mayes and Davies with Irvine in fifth and Mathieson in tenth place whilst Luke Grief won the Allcomers from Ian McLaughlin and Irvine with Watters in ninth place.

Amongst the stock rod drivers racing were Steven Archibald (Glenrothes), Jim Pitcaithly (Kirkcaldy), Stuart Wedderburn (Leven) and Simon Laing (Springfield).

Wedderburn led the Jane Burt Memorial Trophy from start to finish winning from Trevor Calvin, David Kempton and Pitcaithly with Laing in ninth place. Kempton won Allcomers 1 and Allcomers 2 saw Kempton win from Archibald.

Despite the conditions on Sunday the saloon drivers were in good form and there was plenty of contact and quite a few spins.

The first heat went to Mayes, Heat two saw Watters get the breaks and he went on to win. The final was for the Joan Purdie Memorial Trophy with Mayes beating Davies off the line to lead but the latter had initially Irvine challenging him for second then Watters, However, Waters ended up being hit and spun and whilst this was happening Mayes drove away to a comfortable win.

Local drivers in the ministox included Gary Paterson (Saline), Danny Whyte (Lochgelly), Mitch Gold (Leven), Jamie Stewart (Glenrothes) and Michael Mitchell (Lochgelly).

Heat one saw Teri Linden go through to win from Steven Burgoyne, Burgoyne then won heat two, whilst the final developed into a straight fight between Linden and Burgoyne. The latter slowed to retire with only a lap or so to go and it was Linden who won the Turner Trophy from Harrison Bryant and Paterson.

There was a good turn out of the prostock basics with local drivers Megan Wilson (Comrie), Tiffany Barron (Cowdenbeath) Jordan Dignan (Leven), Aaron Cuthill (Cardenden), Connar Jones (Cowdenbeath) and Claire Moyes (Cowdenbeath).

Ian Sutherland won heat, John Rankin won heat two with Barron in fourth and ahead of Jones. Sutherland won the final from Robert Grant, Barron and Wilson with Dignan sixth and Moyes seventh.

Despite the wet and greasy conditions the microf2 drivers coped well and there was a some exciting finishes to their races. Rebecca Reid (Cowdenbeath) was the local driver in action

Heat one saw Lewis Clark Burgoyne just get to the finish line ahead of Kyle Rogerson and Joelan Maynard with Reid in ninth whilst in heat two Burgoyne again won.

The final saw Russell just get the win from R. Anderson although they swapped places a couple of times with Callan Walker in third.

After a double header it’s good to get back to the norm with the formula IIs, the saloons, the 1300 saloons and the micro banger drivers in action on Saturday with the meeting starting at 6pm