AFTER several days of glorious sunshine, Friday the 13th saw temperatures drop but the weather remained dry 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 programme of events began promptly at 7pm with the ProStocks being first on track.

Most of the usual suspects were in attendance once again and it was Scottish and National Points Champion Tam Melrose who took the first win of the night six days after he claimed second place in the European Championship with the European third place man Jordan Cassie finishing as runner up to Melrose. Thornton’s Ricky White took what has become his customary win in heat two as he beat Melrose to the line.

The feature final saw one of the most chaotic moments as an aborted restart saw the HRP pace car still on track as some of the drivers began racing around it – Friday the 13th almost became a reality for the driver!!!

After the race got going again, it was Melrose who claimed a heat and final double as he crossed the line ahead of Lochgelly’s Grady Ross and Ricky White to round off an entertaining evening in the ProStocks.

The CC Rods were back in action with another good grid of cars in attendance and an excellent heat one was won by Bonnyrigg’s Jamie Brown as he beat Kevin Connor and Methil’s Ian Walle to the flag. Connor went one better in heat two as the Lanarkshire driver took another win for his new Corsa C with heat one winner Brown posting second place and Stirling’s Paul Muir taking his unique Ford Puma to third place. The feature final was punctuated by an incident on the back straight where Methil’s Ian Walle made contact with Kirkcaldy’s Kevin Hutchison which sent Hutchison’s car spinning to the fence where a chain reaction began that ended the challenge of several cars. Ironically, after the restart, it was Hutchison’s partner Emma Kirk who claimed her first win of the year ahead of heat winners Connor and Brown after some great racing from HRP’s low budget, non-contact formula. While the action cannot be doubted, some drivers will no doubt be receiving reminders about what the term “non-contact” actually means!

A rare Friday night outing for the National Hot Rods came too soon for Steven Armit who had debuted his car at Crimond at the last World Championship Qualifying Round only to experience engine issues on the morning of this event while local driver Billy Bonnar was also posted missing.

A great effort by northern drivers Paul Yule and father and son duo Ian and Roy Anderson saw enough cars for some good racing from the fastest cars on the ovals. After making the effort to be at HRP Lochgelly Raceway, Paul Yule must have been pleased with his decision to race as he took his first ever win in the formula with victory in heat one ahead of Graeme Callender and Lanarkshire’s Ian Donaldson. Donaldson took the win in heat two ahead of Callender and points rival Tam Rutherford. The feature final saw a fast paced race with a few cars not handling quite as well as they had earlier in the evening but that did not account for Rutherford who was disqualified after using his bumper on Callender which left the 871 car beached on the kerb at turn four.

Roy Anderson maintained his world championship challenge as he took a great win while Ian Donaldson came through the chaos with a car far from its prime to finish second ahead of heat one winner Yule.

The 1300 Stock Cars were back in action after a sensational outing last weekend and they appeared to be in no mood to disappoint last Friday night from the start of heat one! With bumpers flying in at every corner and every driver getting stuck in; it was difficult to know where to look at times.

Glenrothes’ Lee Buchan certainly knew where to look as he came through the chaos to claim a fine win ahead of Kai McNulty and Jason Secker. Buchan doubled up in heat two as he overhauled Lochgelly’s Ian Goodall to take the win with Coaltown of Wemyss; Callum Barclay taking third.

The 1300s had the honour of finishing the meeting and they did so in fine style with another action-packed race full of proper stock car racing which was enjoyed by those in attendance but, after two wins elevating him to star grade for the final, Lee Buchan still managed to come through and overhaul long-time leader Goodall midway through the race to take an excellent hat-trick with East Wemyss’ Dean McGill in second and Denny’s Jason Secker in third place to round off an excellent night of action.

Twelve races were completed in good time in around two and a half hours which is a credit to the drivers, teams and staff who kept the even flowing at a good pace.

The next slice of HRP stock car action comes on Saturday May 21 and features Superstox, 2.0 Hot Rods, Ministox, Stock Rods and Ninja Karts with the Ninjas getting things underway at 5:30pm.