ANOTHER dry but chilly afternoon greeted a huge crowd as they gathered at HRP Lochgelly Raceway this past Saturday for the latest slice of stock car action presented by Hardie Race Promotions.

A mammoth five formula, fifteen race spectacular had been scheduled with a great blend of contact and on-contact formulas with something to suit all ages and tastes!, writes our Raceway reporter Les Waller.

The first race on track at 6pm was the Ministox, the formula for 11-16 year olds, and it was great to see long-distance traveller Ethan Pope on track following a long drive north from the West Country for the first Scottish meeting of 2016 for the Ministox!

Ethan and his dad had made the trip on their own and his father’s dedication to Ethan’s racing was repaid immediately as Ethan took victory in heat one ahead of 2015 top Scots Euan Millar from Dumfriesshire and Steven Burgoyne from Airth.

Pope clearly had the bit between his teeth and he took full advantage of his starting position in heat two to once again resign Millar to second place ahead of Bryan Lindsay.

The feature final was a fantastic race with action aplenty with the top drivers scything their way through the field. Sean Naismith, who made sporadic but successful appearances during 2015, underlined his potential in this one as he surged into a huge lead which he was not to give up as he claimed the win while debutant David Sinclair performed brilliantly to take an excellent second place.

Spare a thought for Saline’s Gary Paterson who looked assured of an excellent third place until the latter stages when he was spun on the home straight which let Pope through for his third rostrum finish of the evening. A great night for a great bunch of youngsters in the Ministox.

The CC Rods were back in action having raced two weeks previously when Methil’s Ian Walle was promoted to red grade following a heat and final double. So, heading into Saturday’s meeting one of the main questions was how would Walle cope from further down the grid and we didn’t need to wait long as he answered that question in heat one with an excellent win ahead of Lanarkshire’s Ian Donaldson and Kirkcaldy’s Brandon Gourlay, who may have gained some new supporters through a recent Facebook campaign!

Donaldson made no mistakes in heat two as he took another win to add to his CV ahead of Stirling’s Paul Muir and Craig Watson from East Wemyss.

The feature final was another great race from the low-budget non-contact class but the evening belonged to Walle as he took his second feature final win in two weeks as he beat Donaldson and Muir to the line to round off a highly entertaining night from the CC Rods.

The 2.0 Hot Rods were back on track for their second meeting in seven days with Lochore’s Billy Bonnar being the only absentee from the previous week due to illness.

The 61 Methven Mill Motors (Kirkcaldy) Citreon Saxo was back in the hands of Kelty’s Kinzie Law who had been ill last week but the car still raced as son-in-law Darren McAlpine took the car to victory lane in the previous week’s feature final.

Obviously, family tensions had put pressure on Law to prove that it wasn’t just the driver change that saw the car take a win and he duly delivered, despite electrical issues in practice, as he stormed to victory in the first heat of the evening ahead of Falkirk’s Robbie Burgoyne and Midlothian’s Gordon Alexander.

Law had to give second best to a flying Jock Campbell in heat two as the Festival Travel Corsa powered to victory lane ahead of Law and Burgoyne. The feature final was another fast-paced race with some great close action between all of the drivers.

Nevertheless, nobody could stop Campbell as the Festival Travel Corsa made a hasty return to victory lane with a feature final win ahead of Burgoyne and Alexander.

The 2.0 Hot Rods look tremendous under the HRP Lochgelly Raceway floodlights and the action will only get better as the likes of Billy Bonnar, Alex Wilson and Kenny Purdie all return to active duty.

The HRP 1300 Stock Cars were back on track following a week off for some although a small group of Scots did travel south to this year’s World Final venue at King's Lynn for some familiarisation laps. A good grid of cars arrived to do battle and it didn’t take long for the bumpers to start flying in as heat one got underway.

It was Lochgelly’s own Euan Mathieson who came through the chaos to take the first win of the night in the Kingdom Kilts sponsored car ahead of Johnstone’s Kevin Morrison and Lanarkshire’s Eddie Corr.

The second heat saw the action continue with the returning Kai McNulty, and current points leader Callum Barclay, becoming involved with one another in a one on one track battle.

McNulty had given Barclay a heavy hit which the Coaltown of Wemyss driver returned with interest on the next lap; Barclay’s car came to a halt as it spun out while trying for another hit on McNulty – could be one to watch in the coming weeks!

This didn’t deter Ryan McGill, as the Kirkcaldy driver took his new HRD built Corsa C to victory lane in only its second race ahead of Morrison and heat one winner Mathieson.

The feature final was an incredible race with bumpers flying in at all corners, umpteen lead changes and a very determined race winner who came back from the middle of the pack in the closing stages to regain his advantage in Ryan McGill who will now race from the red grade.

It looked like Jason Secker may have done enough to get the win as he piled into those in front but, with all of the drivers so close together, another hit was inevitable and, sure enough, McGill put the bumper in to remove the cars in front of him to take a fantastic win on a great night of 1300 Stock Car action!

The final formula on show were one of the main reasons for the huge attendance as the Big Van Bangers made their first appearance at HRP Lochgelly Raceway since the track was taken over by HRP four season ago now.

A fantastic TWENTY vans arrived to do battle and they were a sight to behold as they filled the tight confines of HRP Lochgelly Raceway.

Twenty started heat one and only two finished – that probably sums up the story of heat one very neatly as the drivers wasted no time in getting stuck in with the crowd lapping up the action. Zak Murdoch took the win in heat one ahead of Lochgelly’s own Billy Wilson who had foregone his usual 1300 Stock Car to do something a little different as he raced a Ford Transit.

The second race saw just four cars finish as another bruising race ensued with Wilson coming out on top this time. Around ten vans had survived for the final event which would be a five lap dash followed by a destruction derby and it was Murdoch who took the win in the dash before the remaining drivers proceeded to annihilate each others’ vans in the destruction derby with some huge hits enthralling the large crowd who had remained to witness this tremendous event reach its conclusion.

It was Ross Stewart who came through the carnage to be the last van running as he took the win to finish off a great evening of action at HRP Lochgelly Raceway.

The next slice of stock car action at HRP Lochgelly Raceway comes your way this Saturday March 19 and the Bangers feature prominently once again as HRP Lochgelly Raceway hosts its first ever BANGER RAMP RACING EVENT!!! A ramp will be placed across the width of the track meaning that all drivers will have to take to the skies to secure the all-important win!!! The Bangers will be joined by the fantastic Superstox, Stock Rods, ProStocks and Ninja Karts in another action-packed evening of entertainment at HRP Lochgelly Raceway from 5:30pm.