THE “good old days” returned to the GMP Cowdenbeath Racewall on a dry and sunny Saturday night with the appearance of the Classic hot rods and the heritage formula II cars where the cars they raced dated between 1960 and 1972, writes Racewall scribe Jim Turner.

In fact Andy Webb, who was racing a heritage car won the formula II final in 1967 some 50 years ago!

The centre green was cars from the pre 67 Ford owners Club so there were plenty of cars for the spectators to see with quite a few reminiscing about their early cars!

There was quite a bit of action on the track with the heritage drivers racing for their Gold Cup, the equivalent to the World Championship, and then their Scottish Open Championship and whilst the cars are of quite an age the drivers raced them hard and there was quite a bit of contact.

In the formula IIs Craig Wallace and Ian Thompson tangled with the Wallace car trying to clamber over the Thompson one, and whilst Wallace won the final the other three races went to Fifers.

There was a new face in the classic hot rods with Jock Burgoyne appearing in the ex- McCabe car whilst the latter was in an Mk2 Escort. Thomas Dilly was over from Northern Ireland in his Escort and proved to be pretty quick.

With Gordon Moodie and Euan Millar amongst those down racing on shale, John Maver brought his car down from Crimond.

Local formula II drivers in action included Kieran Howie (Dunfermline), Paul Reid (Cowdenbeath) and Ian Thompson (Kennoway).

The opening heat saw Thompson fend off the attentions of Wallace to win with Reid finishing in third spot. Heat two saw Wallace and Thompson tangle with the race having to be suspended. Daniel Scrimgeour had been leading but hadn’t fitted his transponder and had to leave the grid. This elevated Howie into the lead and despite having to fend off the attentions of Garry Sime went through to win.

When the final started Chris Davidson was the first to show but next time around Thomson was on the sidelines. Howie made an excellent start and he was soon through into the lead. Thompson was soon the leading red grade driver but hew as to loose out to Wallace. The gap to the leader began to dwindle with Howie having to give up the lead as Wallace swept through. Wallace began to pull away whilst behind Howie Sime and Forster were dicing over third place. With a couple of laps remaining Pete Davidson ended up against the wall on the top bend suspending the race.

The field lined up behind Wallace who made a good restart going on to win from Howie.

The classic hot rods had Burgoyne on the grid along with Dilly whilst Trevor Forrester appeared with his Anglia. Local drivers on the grid included Trevor Harris (Kinglassie) and John McFarlane (Dunfermline).

The opening heat saw Kenny Purdie go through to win from Dilly. In heat two it was much the same story although McCabe had to retire towards the end and it was Purdie who won from Dilly and Burgoyne.

Harris failed to appear for the final whilst McFarlane had to retire before the race started with a misfire. McCabe was the first to show when the final started but he was soon closed down by Purdie and just before half distance the lead changed hands. Once there Purdie drove away from the field to win from McCabe and Dilly.

There were 20 heritage cars at the track with the furthest travelled coming from the south west of England and travelling back overnight! The drivers had raced in semi-finals which determined where they would start for the Gold Cup. Andy Webb and Andy Bateman were two drivers who raced in the 1967 World Final at Swindon with Webb coming out on top.

The cars lined up in their race order with Nigel Finnegan leading the field away from John Clements but making quick inroads through the field was Graham Bunter from row 2 although he had his son, Jack in close order.

It didn’t take G. Bunter long to take the lead with Finnegan dropping to third. Bateman was running strongly but Webb was on a charge, having started from row six. As the laps dwindled Webb appeared in third spot but was a distance behind the Bunters. G. Bunter reeled off the remaining laps to win from J. Bunter and Webb.

In the heat which followed there were a couple of race suspensions but whilst Phil Hiles led on the last restart he was to lose out to J. Bunter.

Their last race of the night was their Scottish Open Championship with Chiplen starting from pole position and was never headed. Mind you his win was a narrow one with Pete Fenton in close order and a fast closing Hiles in third.

There was another good turn out of 1300saloon drivers with Gordon Myers another newcomer to their ranks whilst Colin Bruce was back in action in his car. Local drivers on the grid included Lee Wilson (Comrie), Michael Moyes (Cowdenbeath), Kenny Baird (Glenrothes), Gordon Myers (Dunfermline) and Arron Hastie (Ceres).

The opening heat saw Cameron Milne go through to win and Heat two ended with Secker coming through the field to snatch a late win from Milne and Clark.

Milne led the final but soon had Dougie Kidd challenging and whilst they swapped places fairly often this allowed Secker to close the gap. Myers’ car shed a wheel with Secker forcing his way through into the lead going on to win from Kidd whilst third place wasn’t decided until near the close when Clark just made it ahead of Milne and Grant McGowan.

There was a healthy turn out of Prostox drivers with Ian Sutherland changing from the prostock basics. Local drivers in action included Paul Barron (Cowdenbeath), Graham Fleming (Kirkcaldy), Aaron Lithgow (Kirkcaldy), Graham Watt (Inverkeithing), Ian Christie (Kirkcaldy) and Scott Gordon (Glenrothes).

The opening heat saw Barron just get the better of Craig Murray on the last bend to go through to win. Kris Douglas then went on to win the second heat and Lithgow led the cars away when the final started but towards the half distance dropped to third as Christie and Douglas moved through.

Once ahead Christie opened up a gap which began to dwindle when Barron moved into second place. The gap did close but Christie was still clear when they crossed the finish line with Douglas in third spot, Gordon fifth. Watt sixth and Lithgow eighth after being spun.

Next week its going to be a busy one at the Racewall with the formula II drivers having their last race prior to their World Final at King’s Lynn and they are joined on the rid by the 2 litre National saloons, 2 litre bangers, prostock basics, minis and microf2s.

The meeting is scheduled to start at 6pm but if there is no football then the microf2s will roll out at 5.45pm.