IT may have been on the chilly side at the Cowdenbeath Racewall on a bright sunny Sunday afternoon but the fans soon forgot about the weather conditions when the action started on the track, writes our Racewall reporter Jim Turner.

In mainly a banger meeting there was no shortage of contact and shunts which left quite a few vans and cars wrecked. Jason Todd (Barrow in Furness) ended up rolling his microbanger as he tried to remove a back marker out of his way only to bounce off a parked car and ended up rolling.

Jason Secker (Denny) had his van wrecked after being the meat in a bus sandwich whilst Lee Clarke (Cowdenbeath) was on the receiving end of a few crashes but still managed to appear for all three races.

Ally Fleming (Perth) and John Tosh (Perth) appeared in prostock basic cars and they were racing in memory of Raymond Tosh who recently died and were raising funds for the Cornhill MacMillan Centre in Perth.

At this stage over £2000 has been raised and hopefully after their racing exploits the funds will be increased even more.

The prostock basic drivers were in good form although as the track got coated in oil and water the surface got more treacherous as the afternoon passed.

Tosh had a dream start by going through to win the first heat, incidentally his first ever race at the Racewall, from Dougie Ford (Newton St Boswells) and Ian Sutherland (Stirling). Sutherland was in a heavy shunt at the start to heat two with Connor Jones (Lochgelly) and had to retire with Ford going through to win from Harry Adams (Livingston) and Tosh.

The final saw Craig Oliver (Galashiels) go into the lead right at the start to the race whilst Grant McLean (Grangemouth) was edged wide and slid into the wall. Aaron Cuthill (Cardenden) moved into second but was then relegated to third as Adams moved into second place. Ford was going well and was making up places on a regular basis getting ahead of Tiffany Barron and then Tosh in quick order.

Ford closed right up onto Adams but it took him a few laps before he got ahead although he sent him spinning as he did so. By now Oliver was almost half a lap clear and he went on to win from Ford and a revering Adams.

There was an impressive turn out of Junior Banger drivers with quite a few drivers heading up from south of the border. Charlie Folan (Perth) and Danny Whyte (Lochgelly) were having their first outing in this formula.

Blake Platts (Sheffield) was the early leader but he lost out to Joey Holmes Jnr (Birmingham) who moved into the lead during the closing stages to win from Platt and Bradley Tomlinson. Heat two saw Tomlinson take an early lead and whilst he won he was chased all the way to the chequer by Platts and Ben Nichols (Sheffield).

Whyte was an early casualty when the final started being caught up in a shunt and crashed out. Tomlinson then went into the lead before going through to an easy win over William Walmsley (Sheffield) and Holmes Jnr.

There was a good turn out of microbangers with their first race being a Racewall v Barford challenge race with ten cars from each track in action.

Prior to the start of the race the drivers and officials paid tribute to Shaun Walsh who sadly passed away recently.

Liam Glendinning (Moffat) led the field away when the green flag dropped but right away there was a big shunt on the pit bend which resulted in a few cars going no further. Todd took over at the front of the pack but was being hounded by Chris Spencer and after a few laps Burden was sent spinning. Whilst he was doing this Todd tried to remove a back marker but ended up rolling his car and suspending the race.

It was a rather depleted field that restarted the race with five Barford cars to two Racewall cars! Glendinning was sent spinning as soon as the race restarted and this left Callum Campbell (Mayfield) to coast home to win for the Barford team from Todd and Craig Barton. Needless to say we came second!

The second heat saw the remaining drivers join a rather depleted field and almost as soon as it started Jordan Cassie (Stirling) was sent crashing into the turnstile bend wall and out of the race. Within a couple of laps Todd was through into the lead and he went on to win from fellow team mate Oggie Ogden and Campbell. Matty Hembrow (Manchester) managed to get his misfiring car onto the grid but only managed half a lap before it died on him and he had to retire.

The start to the final was hectic with cars getting tangled up and there were a group that slid towards the wall on the main straight and whilst some survived quite a few didn’t and it was tricky trying to negotiate the dead cars before getting the power down.

Once the dust had settled Campbell was through into the lead with Cassie ending his race on the pit bend to be joined by Boardman. On the top bend Sean Tierney (Edinburgh) was shunted into the turnstile bend wall and the race had to be suspended to give him assistance out of his car.

On the restart Campbell pulled away from the field to win from Todd and Boardman.

There weren’t too many cars running for the destruction derby and when Boardman and Joe Ewart got locked up neither could move but the cars were soon covered in tyre smoke. Campbell had a few hits at cars and in the end he was adjudged to be the winner.

The van bangers turned out to be a mixture of transits and busses- yes busses!

Amongst those racing were saloon drivers Jason Secker (Denny), Holly and Barry Glen (Dundee) with Holly hoping for a repeat of last year when she won the final.

The busses started at the front of the rid and once the race got going so too did the action. Lee Clarke was sent spinning with the largest of the busses, driven by Sean McConnachie (Williston) in the lead. Tam Melrose (Mayfield) was in second with his bus but he had Kyle Roy (Mayfield) trying to spin him.

Dougie Kidd (Easthouses) made up round and was soon running side by side with Melrose. McConnachie and Holly Glen tangled exiting the top bend wrecking the Glen van with Roy going through to win from Secker and Kevin Morrison (Barrhead).

Kidd led the second heat for a good part of the race but there had been a shunt on the far end of the main straight with Melrose’s bus stranded against the tyres with Secker’s van behind. Secker was hit hard on successive laps, the second hit sending his van into the back of the Melrose van. The race was suspended with Roy being declared the winner from Kidd and Jack Cameron (Kirkcaldy).

The final was slightly quieter with Clarke’s van taking a heavy hit before McConnachie’s bus was spun. In the end Kidd went through to win from Roy and McConnachie.

The Destruction derby didn’t last long with Kidd’s bus packing up leaving McConnachie as the winner.

The practice meetings take place over the last two Sundays in February but there will be more news prior to that.