A RAINY afternoon gave way to a dry but chilly evening this past Friday as drivers, teams and fans gathered at HRP Lochgelly Raceway for the latest slice of stock car action presented by Hardie Race Promotions, writes our Raceway reporter Les Waller.

A four formula, twelve race spectacular was the order of the evening and got underway promptly at 7pm.

The ProStocks were the first formula on track and, with a turnout in the teens, it was the largest entry seen so far in 2016 – although some of those did arrive too late to make it out for heat one which was run in greasy conditions as the track continued to dry out from the earlier rain.

The race was won by Stirling’s Jordan Cassie who is finally getting to grips with his Vauxhall Astra after a number of years running Ford Escorts.

Cassie couldn’t repeat his exploits in heat two as National points and Scottish Champion Tam Melrose from Dalkeith took the spoils ahead of his arch-rival Ricky White with Cassie coming home in third. Mechanical issues saw the feature final slightly down on cars but that did not deter White who stormed into a huge lead after scything through the field to take the final trophy home to Glenrothes with Melrose having to settle for second with Lanarkshire driver Gary Nicholls in third to round off an entertaining session for the limited contact class.

Hopefully, the green shoots of recovery are now showing for a formula that has been struggling in Scotland of late.

The second formula on show this past Friday at HRP Lochgelly Raceway were the Ministox – the contact formula for 11-16 year-old drivers.

It was great to see Ethan Pope back in the HRP pits after an 11-hour trip north from his West Country base. Ethan and his dad travel as a two-man team with his dad doing all of the driving and their efforts were rewarded when Ethan claimed victory in heat one ahead of Airth’s Steven Burgoyne and Dumfries and Galloway’s Euan Millar.

Pope had taken two wins on his last time out at HRP Lochgelly Raceway and he managed to repeat that feat as he took a clinical win in heat two with Burgoyne and Millar again the best of the rest with Saline’s Gary Paterson also worthy of mention in fourth place as he matched the pace of the star graded drivers who finished ahead of him.

The feature final saw Pope starting from the star grade now as his two earlier wins saw him promoted one grade but this did not deter the young man who went on to take a fantastic hat-trick and hopefully just reward for the hard work, time and effort of both him and his dad to attend events so far from home.

Euan Millar came home second with Steven Burgoyne in third in a race that saw Cowdenbeath’s John Crawford’s car lose a wheel after the chequered flag with the young driver exiting the car gingerly after a few moments.

The Ministox were once again in scintillating form at HRP Lochgelly Raceway.

Following the hugely successful Dechmont Forklift Trucks National Hot Rod European Championship weekend last week; it was the turn of the slightly less powerful, but no less entertaining, 2.0 Hot Rods to take to the track.

It was great to see numbers increasing with Alex Wilson making his 2016 debut plus the majority of other drivers on track.

Having claimed top six places in both big National Hot Rod races last weekend, many eyes would have been on Lochore’s Billy Bonnar to see if he could take that form into the 2.0 Hot Rods.

However, it was fellow Fifer, Dunfermline’s Gerry Hendry, who halted Bonnar’s challenge for top honours as he managed to stay ahead of Bonnar to take the win in heat one with Falkirk’s Robbie Burgoyne finishing in the final podium place.

The second heat of the evening was run on a now dry track and it was Bonnar who took full advantage of his starting position to head the field comfortably at the chequered flag with Bonnybridge’s Gordon Alexander and Hendry rounding out the top three.

The feature final was a very fast-paced race and saw Bonnar streak into a huge lead while those behind him fought a sensational battle for the lower places. Alexander and Burgoyne has managed to get ahead of the likes of Hendry and Jock Campbell to find themselves in a one on one battle for second place which was won by Alexander after a race long duel with Burgoyne but neither had an answer for the pace of Bonnar who took the win with ease and secured a return to the star grade for his next meeting.

The fourth and final formula on show were the Superstox and an entry in excess of twenty cars had arrived in the pits by the time of their first race – a great entry on a Friday night for a formula that has been in fantastic form throughout 2016.

The first heat of the night saw some great action going on throughout the grid and it was difficult to know where to look as the bumpers were used to full effect but it was Gartcosh’s Mark Brady who took advantage of his yellow grade start to surge into a healthy lead while those behind him battled for supremacy.

This battle was eventually won by Scottish Champion Stuart Gilchrist but even Gilchrist, who had won the vast majority of races since the start of 2016, was unable to catch the flying Brady who would have been delighted to take the win after a season dogged by engine issues.

The second heat saw Brady leap into a big lead once again but his lead was lost as the caution flags came out following an incident on the exit of turn two which saw cars scattering everywhere with the unfortunate Barry Stephen rolling gently over the front end of Will Lindsay Jr’s car – it has been a year to forget so far for Barry Stephen sporting the silver roof of National Points Champion but he was back on track for the feature final.

This was another excellent race under the HRP floodlights and saw some great bumper-work at all points on the track. Once again, Brady made a quick getaway but the caution flags came out again following Ryan Dunbar colliding with the safety fence.

Gilchrist surged into the lead and ran out an easy winner ahead of Brady and Larbert’s Steven Ballantine who posted one of his best results of the season so far in another sensational night of Superstox racing to finish off the evening.

Twelve races all completed with the usual HRP efficiency saw the evening conclude shortly after half past nine with the fans heading home satisfied with their evening’s entertainment.

The next slice of stock car action at HRP Lochgelly Raceway comes next Saturday April 23 and features the HRP 1300 Stock Cars, Stock Rods, 2.0 Hot Rods, CC Rods and Ninja Karts. The action gets underway at 5:30pm with the Ninja Karts Whites & Yellows Race.