A PLEASANT autumnal afternoon gave way to a chilly but dry evening as HRP Lochgelly Raceway opened its doors to drivers, teams and fans for the latest slice of Saturday night stock car action presented by Hardie Race Promotions on Saturday, writes our Raceway reporter Les Waller.

Championship Fever has given an extra edge to every meeting throughout the last few weeks and it was the turn of the 2.0 Hot Rods to take centre stage.

The 2.0 Hot Rods arrived to contest their Scottish Championship and, with defending champion Kerr Paterson sadly still absent from the Raceway, a new champion would be crowned with several drivers in the mix for the title.

Dunfermline’s Gerry Hendry certainly started the meeting as one of the championship favourites and he underlined that status as he took a fine victory in heat one ahead of Lochore’s Billy Bonnar and British Champion Kenny Purdie.

The second heat saw the starting positions reversed from heat one but race winner Hendry had trouble before the green flag as his clutch cable had snapped meaning that he would start at a disadvantage behind the rest of the title contenders.

Bonnyrigg’s Gordon Alexander is no stranger to championship victories and claimed pole position with a great drive heat two after a long battle with Gill Anderson which saw Alexander eventually overhaul Anderson who held on for second place ahead of Purdie. Hendry had managed to get back up into fifth and this gave him a front row start on the outside of Alexander. As the green flag dropped, Alexander surged into the lead with Hendry managing to get to the inside line ahead of Billy Bonnar.

Bonnar pressured Hendry incessantly but the young Fife driver held firm despite the hard-charging Bonnar for the majority of the race but had to give way in the latter stages as Bonnar’s car seemed to get quicker and quicker, Bonnar set off in pursuit of Alexander but, unfortunately for him, he ran out of laps and it was Alexander who crossed the line first to take the title of 2016 2.0 hot Rod Scottish Champion ahead of Billy Bonnar and Gerry Hendry.

The Ninja Karts were back in town and a large number of entries at this stage of the season was a welcome sight. Included in this entry was rookie Robbie Conner who was taking part in his first ever meeting plus English visitor Toby Tyson.

The traditional whites and yellows race got things underway and saw Logan Tweedie claim the win in what was his final meeting at Lochgelly before graduating to the new Junior Production class for 2017 - Tweedie was followed across the line by Leona Anderson and Kaydan Day. The first heat proper saw a hard-earned win for the ever-smiling Rachael Kidd who took an excellent win ahead of Tweedie and Josh Bruce.

Heat Two was another fast-paced race and that suited European and National Champion Declan Honeyman perfectly as he charged from the rear of the grid to take an excellent win ahead of Robbie Armit and Scott Allardyce.

Heat Three was another excellent race as the youngsters drove with skill and talent that belies their tender ages!!! The race was won by an on-form Robbie Armit from two other form men in the shape of Scott Allardyce and Ethan Doull as the chase for the points championship heats up in the UK’s premier Junior Formula.

A good turnout of ProStocks arrived to do battle at HRP Lochgelly Raceway including Tam Melrose who successfully defended his Scottish title one week earlier. Heat One saw Melrose underline his status as the number one ProStock driver in Scotland with a faultless win in heat one after chasing long-time leader Graham Watt down and knocking him wide in the later stages of the race.

Heat two was another master-class from Melrose as he scythed his way through the pack to take a heat-winning double. The question on the lips of most people in the stadium come the feature final was, could Melrose claim another hat-trick? Graham Watt made the early running again in this race but he had no answer at all for Melrose who drove the perfect race to claim that race-winning hat-trick ahead of Dougie Kidd and Ian Christie on an entertaining night of ProStocks racing.

The Superstox were the final formula on show and it was a relatively low number of cars that arrived to do battle after recent excesses. An all-too rare appearance by former Scottish Champion Colin Frame gave a glimpse of his pace as he scorched away to victory in heat one ahead of Steven Ballantine and the returning Chris Cuthbert who was back after a season plagued by engine issues in a race punctuated by a big incident that removed almost half of the field in the space of a few seconds as charity racer Steven Michie caused a chain reaction that eliminated several of the top contenders. Colin’s brother David is no stranger to victory lane at HRP Lochgelly Raceway and he took another win in heat two after he sliced his way through the field to take the win ahead of Kenny McKenzie and Mark Brady.

The feature final was a fast-paced race where no quarter was asked for an none given as the drivers fought for every position. It was young Mark Brady who kept his nerve and managed to get to the front of the pack and stay there with a faultless drive to take the feature final ahead of Tony Lattka and Steven Ballantine to round off an entertaining evening of action.

Championship Fever at HRP Lochgelly Raceway reaches its climax this weekend over two days of racing as HRP host the 2016 Micro Banger World Cup with over 150 entrants currently booked in!!! The Stock Rods co-headline the weekend with their Best in Britain title up for grabs and a huge field of around forty of the best Stock Rod pilots in the UK set to descend on HRP Lochgelly Raceway.

The 1300 Stock Cars will also be in action with the Bill Auld Fabrications Trophy on the line. Racing gets underway this Saturday at 5pm and at 1pm this Sunday at HRP Lochgelly Raceway.