A GORGEOUS sunny afternoon gave way to a chilly but dry evening at HRP Lochgelly Raceway this past Saturday as drivers, teams and fans gathered for a very emotional, but important occasion, as the stock car racing community came together to remember Keir Millar, writes Raceway reporter Les Waller.

Keir tragically passed away in May 2015 due to injuries sustained in a racing accident and the incident has touched thousands of people and many of them made their way to HRP Lochgelly Raceway to join the family in remembering young Keir.

Four of Keir’s favourite formulas were scheduled to race and drivers and teams arrived in huge numbers to entertain the large crowd in attendance.

Keir began his career in the Ninja Karts and was, indeed, already a world champion having won the Ninja Karts World title a couple of years ago.

Keir was among the original drivers in the formula in Scotland that has been a huge success story since its introduction in 2013 and a good number of karts arrived to race including Zac Pears from England and Callum Magill from Northern Ireland.

The pre-meeting races began, as always, with a whites and yellows race for the lower-graded drivers and this was duly won by Aberdeenshire’s Leona Anderson for her first every race victory. The first heat for the Ninjas was run in the opposite direction to normal and was won by Anstruther’s Callum Beaton with a storming drive to stay ahead of top duo Robbie Armit and Charlie Hardie.

Following these two pre-meeting races, the HRP Lochgelly Raceway staff were joined by members of Keir Millar’s family for a minute’s applause in memory of the young man followed by a touching few moments as all in the stadium took a few moments of thought as Coldplay’s ‘Fix You’ played – a poignant and emotional moment.

The conclusion of this tribute then saw the main programme of events commence with the National Micro Bangers, 1300 Stock Cars and Ministox all with a full programme of racing plus the remaining two Ninja Kart races.

Heat two for the Ninja Karts saw Polmont’s Charlie Hardie take his customary win as he headed Scott Allardyce and European Champion Declan Honeyman to the chequered flag. The final race of the evening for the Ninjas saw Honeyman take another excellent win in damp condition for the Ninja Karts.

The 11-16 year olds in the Ministox had arrived in huge numbers to remember Keir who had already won numerous races and even more fans having started in the formula last year before his sad passing. The regular drivers were joined by an influx from the north of Scotland as well as England including Buster Sage Jr and Ethan Pope from the West Country plus ORCi Champion Dan Santry from Cambridgeshire.

The first race of the night was run as the final for Ministox who were competing in the third round of the Keir Millar Memorial Series and it was regular visitor Pope who claimed the first win from his blue grade starting position ahead of Santry and Keir’s older brother, Euan Millar, who started at the rear of a field of almost thirty Ministox!

The victory must have been even sweeter for Pope than usual as his car was without an engine only a short time before making the 11-hour journey north from their base – huge credit to this father and son team for their efforts!

Pope doubled up in heat one as he took the win ahead of Millar and Santry while it was also these three drivers who dominated the final heat of the night with Pope starting from red grade this time.

As the champions battled with one another, Pope took full advantage to claim a faultless hat-trick of wins on the night with Santry and Millar once again claiming the remaining podium places on a fantastic night of Ministox racing in memory of their dearly departed friend Keir.

The HRP 1300 Stock Cars are usually called upon when a big event is in the offing and this past Saturday was no exception as Scotland’s top stock car formula gathered in huge numbers with drivers from Northern Ireland and England adding to the local driver base for a field of almost thirty cars.

It was one of the local drivers who claimed the first win Dysart’s Ryan McGIll took his newly-signwritten car to victory lane ahead of England’s Ian Beaumont and Lochgelly’s Andrew Mathieson.

McGill took an excellent win again in heat two as he bested Methil’s Bobby Gold and Beaumont after a great battle. The feature final saw the bumpers flying in as they had been all night and, once again, McGill found a way through the chaos to take a fantastic hat-trick of wins as he fended off the attentions of runner-up Kev Baird (Glenrothes) and Ian Goodall (Lochgelly) in an all-Fife top three finish!

The National Micro Bangers had booked in in good numbers and an excellent turnout in the mid-fifties arrived to do battle in memory of Keir whose family have a long-standing history in the banger formulas.

The first race saw all cars on track which made for a spectacular sight around the tight confines of HRP Lochgelly Raceway and the drivers did not disappoint as they got stuck in from the very beginning! In a race with over fifty starters; only seven made it to the end with Paul Cuthbert coming out on top in an incredibly hard-hitting race. The second race saw Tom Morton beat Matt Black to the finish line as the only two finishers in a race with around forty starters! The final event of the evening was a six lap dash followed by a destruction derby; the dash was won by long-distance visitor Dougie George ahead of Paul Cuthbert before all hell broke loose in an amazing display of metal-munching mayhem as the destruction derby thrilled those on the terraces as the drivers finished off their cars in fine style with Harry Sievwright being the last car running after an event full of thrills and spills.

The entire event had been a fitting tribute to young Keir who would no doubt have enjoyed the all-action approach taken by every driver and full credit must go to all drivers and teams who made the event so special. Credit must also go to the hard-working HRP staff who had their work cut out with so many wrecks and spillages throughout the evening.

The next slice of HRP stock car action comes this Friday May 13th from 7pm and features the HRP 1300 Stock Cars, National Hot Rods, CC Rods and ProStocks in a four formula, twelve race programme to kick off your weekend in style.