SADLY, the beautiful late summer weather did not hang around long enough to guarantee a dry evening at HRP Lochgelly Raceway with heavy rain greeting drivers, teams and fans as they gathered for the latest slice of stock car action presented by Hardie Race Promotions, on Saturday, writes our Raceway reporter Les Waller.

With the anticipation already building for the Dechmont Forklift Trucks Superstox Championship of the World Speed Weekend this weekend; it was a relatively low-key affair but the drivers on show delivered some fantastic action which only served to whet the appetite for the festival of racing this week.

The Ninja Karts were enjoying an extra fixture which saw most of the top drivers absent as they headed to Northern Ireland to contest the National Championship and, in a great result for Scotland, it was HRP’s own Declan Honeyman who took the title to add to his European Championship, who came home first ahead of British Champion Charlie Hardie and Robbie Armit in an HRP and Scottish 1,2,3 – well done boys!

There was still a healthy grid of cars at HRP Lochgelly Raceway and, with no star-graded drivers, it was a chance for some other fantastic pilots to enjoy some success.

Harry Robertson, of Ratho, claimed the first win of the night after reeling in Logan Tweedie and Methil’s Jase Walle. Lanarkshire’s Tweedie made no mistakes in heat two and managed to stay ahead of the pack all the way to the chequered flag for an excellent win by inches from a fast-moving Jay Paterson with heat one winner Robertson in third.

The final heat of the evening saw Tweedie repeat his exploits from heat two as he shot into a lead he did not relinquish and, yet again, it was Saline’s Paterson who narrowly missed out by the width of a bumper as he had to settle for second again with Robertson rounding off an excellent night with another podium finish.

The CC Rods were back in action at HRP Lochgelly Raceway and, after a talking to from the Steward prior to the start of the meeting, the contact that had started to creep into the formula seemed to abate somewhat and the racing was all the better for it.

Leslie’s Ian Hotchkies took victory in the first heat of the evening as he managed to keep his nose ahead of Lanarkshire’s Kevin Connor and Kirkcaldy’s Brandon Gourlay. Connor went one better in heat two as he took another victory to add to his 2016 tally ahead of Stirling’s Paul Muir and Methil’s Bob Cairns.

The feature final saw yet another good race on what was now a dry track and it was Kelty’s Colin Wotherspoon who claimed a hard-earned win ahead of Cairns and Gourlay to round off a good night of CC Rod action.

Following their World Championship, at Kings Lynn, last weekend, the field of 1300 Stock Cars was predictably down on recent times but it was good to see the return of Hill of Beath’s James Dalrymple after a period of absence. Dalrymple managed a fifth in heat one which was won by Andrew Mathieson from older brother Euan, as the Lochgelly duo dominated the race.

Stevie Gold came home in third to make it an all-Fife podium. The second heat saw the Mathieson brothers slice their way through the field again with Euan getting to the line first this time with Andrew coming home in second and fellow Lochgelly pilot Ian Goodall in third.

The feature final saw Forfar’s Boab Low stay ahead of the Mathieson boys all the way to the chequered flag to take yet another win with Euan and Andrew Mathieson claiming the other podium spots.

The 2.0 Hot Rods were back on track and it was good to see the return of Dunfermline’s Gordon Hendry and Falkirk’s Alex Wilson to the field. Wilson made it a winning return as he managed to stay ahead of a hard-charging Gerry Hendry and Gordon Alexander to claim victory in heat one.

Dunfermline’s Gerry Hendry went one better in heat two as he stormed to the win in his stunning Citroen Saxo ahead of heat one winner Wilson and previous Final Winner Jock Campbell.

With the track now dry, the drivers were able to get the power down and a fast-paced chase ensued for the top places in the feature final with Wilson being able to get to the front of the pack and stay there despite the close attention of Gordon Alexander with Jock Campbell coming home in third.

The Ministox have been in great form wherever they have raced this year and last Saturday at HRP Lochgelly Raceway was no exception as a fantastic 24 cars arrived to do battle including English visitors Tom Gresinger, Steph Saw and David Shearing. It didn’t take long for the drivers to get into their stride with the bumpers flying in from the off but it was Anstruther’s Dylan Sim who maintained his recent form with victory ahead of Steven Burgyone and Brian Lindsay.

The second heat saw a fast-moving Burgoyne claim the win ahead of English Visitor Saw and arch-rival Euan Millar. The feature final was another incredible race with action everywhere you looked but Burgoyne came through the chaos to take an impressive heat and final winning double ahead of Sean Naismith and heat one winner Sim to round off a great night of Ministox racing.

This weekend at HRP Lochgelly Raceway sees the third Speed Weekend of 2016 and it promises to be a cracker with some huge titles up for grabs.

The Superstox Championship of the World sponsored by Dechmont Forklift Trucks headlines the event on Saturday August 27th which also features more international action with the European Championship for the UK Oval Track Legends plus the British Championship for the ProStocks with the action getting underway from 5pm. Sunday August 28 starts at 1pm and features the Scottish Open Championships for the Superstox, Legends and ProStocks plus the third round of the Bill Auld Fabrications Trophy for the 1300 Stock Cars – a truly unmissable weekend of action at HRP Lochgelly Raceway.