DRIVERS teams and fans gathered at HRP Lochgelly Raceway on Saturday for the final speed weekend of the year.

Hardie Race Promotions hosted a unique two days of racing as the National Micro Bangers contested their World Cup while the ProStocks were out for their European Championship with a full support programme.

National Micro Bangers are smaller cars (such as Nissan Micras and Vauxhall Corsas with a 1400cc engine limit) and full contact is not only encouraged but expected! Almost 80 cars arrived to do battle for the coveted gold roof including two previous winners - Scott Lindsell and defending champion Andy Webster.

Both hail from Scotland but a huge English contingent arrived with gold on their minds.

The Micro Bangers were first on track and almost 40 cars took to the Lochgelly tarmac.

The fans were treated to some fast-paced action as Reece Priestley from The Dreamers team took first blood.

The second heat saw those who had not raced in heat one take to the track and yet again it was The Dreamers who were in dreamland as Jack Brann drove through the chaos to claim victory.

The World Cup race was up next and 65 cars entered the arena to contest the most prestigious race in the Micro Banger calendar.

The cars made for a stunning sight as they slowly circled the track before the green flag dropped and cars were flying everywhere!

Despite the carnage, the race was only halted once with just three laps to go, and it was Speedway star Ed Kennett (who has four-wheeled experience down south) who kept his head to claim the National Micro Banger World Cup for 2016 – the first Englishman to do so.

Fellow Dreamers Darren Terry-Brand and Terry Boxell took second and third respectively.

An all-comers race saw another large grid of cars take to the track and this was won by Dreamers team captain Steve Anscombe.

Alex McBain had the last car running in a Demolition Derby that was added to the programme to round off Saturday night’s action.

Sunday saw around 30 Micro Bangers in action and it was World Cup runner-up Terry-Brand who made no mistakes in the first race when he claimed the Scottish Open Championship ahead of Anscombe and Brann.

Anscombe took victory in the first all-comers race while Brann rounded off a good weekend with victory in the final race of the day. The Micro Bangers battled to the last car running in another demolition derby which was won by Dan Waddingham.

A fantastic two days of Micro Banger action dominated by The Dreamers team who have already confirmed their intention to return to Lochgelly in 2016.

The ProStocks were also in major championship action for their European Championship. Thirty cars arrived to do battle with no less than eight cars hailing from Northern Ireland, including 2015 World and British champion Steven Haugh.

It was former world champ Stuarty Agnew from Northern Ireland who claimed the first heat win of the night as the 30-car grid was comprehensively reduced to 11 by the end of the race. Northern Ireland’s dominance of the ProStocks was halted in heat two as Scotland’s Tam Melrose claimed victory.

The heat scores resulted in Northern Ireland claiming the first six starting positions in the European Championship race and it was Stephen McCready who managed to surge ahead of the others, after the chaos of the early laps, to move clear of the field.

What McCready hadn’t accounted for was the back-marking John Mason who held up McCready sufficiently to allow the field to catch up and pass the flying 17 machine!

Fellow Northern Irishman Greg McMullan was the man who profited most as he crossed the line first to take the title of 2015 ProStocks European Champion while McCready finished second and Stephen Boyd completed an all-Northern Irish top three.

Sunday saw the drivers competing for the HRP Gold Cup and, after heat wins for Northern Ireland’s Agnew and Raymond Gurney, it was fellow Northern Irishman Liam McShane who claimed the cup in a race punctuated by a huge hit on Methil’s Ian Walle from Tranent’s Scott Ramsay.

The HRP 1300 Stock Cars were in action on both days and the first race carried extra importance as it was the final for the Bill Auld Fabrications Trophy.

The drivers had contested three rounds over the course of the season for this event and were lined up in points order with Lochgelly duo Andrew Mathieson and Billy Wilson on the front row.

A fantastic race ensued with no quarter asked for nor given as Scotland’s top stock car formula drivers got stuck in.

As the dust settled it was Windygates driver Kevin Baird who maintained his excellent recent form with the big win ahead of Jason Secker and new Scottish Champion Callum Barclay.

Kirkcaldy’s Dean McGill claimed victory in heat two in the ex-Gilmour Corsa while Barclay took his car back to victory lane following a highly-entertaining feature final. Sunday’s action saw Norrie Moore take the trophy for victory in heat one back to Halbeath while Anstruther’s David Bowman returned to victory lane after a period of absence with the win in heat two.

The feature final saw Glasgow’s Kevin Morrison take the win ahead of Norrie Moore and Windygates’ David Auld who had come out of retirement just eight days after what had been apparently his last race – good to see Auld back on track and on form.

The Stock Rods joined the fray on day two of the October Speed Weekend and heat wins went the way of Pete Thomson and James Halkett before National points and Scottish Champion Siobhan Martin sliced her way through the field to take the feature final win ahead of Derek Conner and Chris Lattka.

The next slice of stock car action at HRP Lochgelly Raceway comes this Saturday from 5:30pm and features the return of the Superstox, 2.0 Hot Rods, CC Rods, Ministox and the tiny terrors in their Ninja Karts!