A GLORIOUS spring day greeted drivers, teams and fans as they gathered at HRP Lochgelly Raceway this past Saturday evening for the latest slice of stock car action presented by Hardie Race Promotions.

The weather remained dry throughout the evening as the pits filled up with race cars for the evening’s entertainment. Once again, five formulas would be in action at HRP Lochgelly Raceway with something for everyone.

The first formula on track were the ProStocks and another decent turnout of cars ensured there would be some action during the evening!!! Ryan O’Shea has been in good form in the 53 Astra so far in 2017 and took full advantage of what will probably be his last meeting starting from the front of the grid with a runaway win in heat one as the Falkirk driver took the chequered flag by a considerable distance.

The second heat saw O’Shea do most of the running again but Cowdenbeath’s Paul Barron managed to overhaul O’Shea who subsequently failed to finish the race to take the win. The feature final saw a few cars unable to take part after a bruising evening but O’Shea certainly wouldn’t have minded as he sped into a healthy lead once again.

The battle was on for the minor places between John Crawford, Jason McAlpine and Paul Barron and it was heat two winner Barron who made the decisive move when he planted McAlpine into the back of Crawford to claim second place for himself while McAlpine picked up third. Neither of the two red tops were able to catch O’Shea though as he took a fine win ahead of Barron and McAlpine.

The Ministox were back in action with another good grid of cars on track for their first heat including Kelty’s Mirran Adams who celebrated her 11th birthday on the day by debuting in her new formula after retiring from ninja Karts seven days earlier. Lauren Ford led the cars in the early stages while battling with the likes of Ben Creanor and Ciaran Adam for supremacy. The red top train started to move through the pack led by Steven Burgoyne and he was able to slice his way to the front by the end of the race to take the win ahead of HRP National Points Champion Sean Naismith and Milton of Balgonie’s Mitchell Gold.

The second heat saw Naismith and Burgoyne performing their usual trick of being able to calmly pick their way through the traffic with skills that bely their years to cross the line first and second once again but with Naismith taking victory this time. The feature final was another fantastic race with the star graded drivers making their presence felt early on as they made their way through the field. Ciaran Adams and Mitchell Gold were extremely impressive as they battled with Burgoyne and Naismith for the win but Naismith managed to pull ahead to take the win ahead of Gold in second and Burgoyne in third with Ciaran Adams continuing his good run of form with a fine fourth place to round off a great night of Ministox action.

The Stock Rods were back for their second meeting of the year and the locals were joined by two visiting Northern Irish drivers in the shape of Chris Hamill and European Champion Derek McMillan plus former CC Rod and ProStocks Scottish Champion Ian Taylor debuted his stunning Corsa C. The lower graders dominated the sharp end of the results last time out and it was yellow graded Ryan Venters who crossed the line first in heat one. Sadly for Ryan, he was deemed to have jumped the start of the race and therefore docked two places to third. This left fellow yellow-grader John-Lee Green, from Kelty, as the race winner. Venters made no such mistakes in heat two as he sped away to an excellent win ahead of another yellow grader Alan Cuthbert and heat one winner Green. The feature final was ran over 25 laps rather than the 20 laps of the heats which gave the star graded drivers longer to make inroads on the drivers at the front of the grid but nobody had an answer for 2017 rookie Daniel Davidson as the Denny pilot sped away for a fantastic win from the white grade ahead of Venters and Cuthbert on another night of low grade dominance as the stars spent more time battling one another!

The Big Van Bangers were making the first of two appearances at HRP Lochgelly Raceway in 2017 and, while the turnout was not huge, the drivers in attendance put on a great show with some serious crashing going on!!! With seven vans in attendance, it did not take long for the action to kick off with Lumphinnans’ Lee Clarke taking out ProStocks racers Scott Wilson and then Paul Barron in quick succession before coming back round to unleash a huge hit on Barron’s Transit.

As the others quickly fell by the wayside and, as the only van still running, Clarke was given the win with handshakes all round from the smiling drivers. The second heat was cancelled to give the teams longer to get the vans back to some state of readiness so the vans joined the track for the last events of the evening which would be a final followed by a Demolition Derby.

This time, it was Leslie’s Ryan Harrow who was the man to watch as he set about eliminating the competition with some huge hits to claim the final. Harrow continued to dish out the hits in the DD but came a cropper when his van finally gave up which handed the win to the only mobile driver which was long-time Banger racer Neil Naismith. The vans will be back in September where their Scottish Championship is expected to feature a considerably larger field.

The Superstox were the final formula on show and, with no visitors on the track, it was still good to see a big field of cars which included the first outing of the season for David Frame. Frame featured prominently in the early stages of heat one as a huge lunge on Stuart Gilchrist saw the 177 machine eliminated while Frame spun round but managed to get going again. As the chaos ensued behind him, experienced racer Alex Hamilton sped away from his white grade start and remained at the head of the field as he took an excellent win ahead of Tony Lattka and Barry Stephen. Stephen deserves a special mention as, having travelled four hours south to race at this event, would then be heading 450 miles FURTHER south to race at the final Wimbledon event in London – true dedication from the 265 team. The second heat saw Hamilton shoot into an early lead once again but Gilchrist had made the break from the other star drivers to begin his pursuit. Gilchrist managed to gain the lead after halfway and led Chris Miller and Frame across the line. Hamilton made the early running in the feature final and, indeed, looked to be on his way to his second Superstox victory before a flying Stuart Gilchrist took the lead. David Frame, Hamilton, Barry Stephen, Chris Miller, Mark Brady and Bryan Forrest fought a brilliant battle for the minor places but it was Hamilton who held on for third to complete his fantastic evening and a great night of Superstox racing – the formula look like the one to watch in 2017 so far!

Next week sees the first HRP SPEED WEEKEND of 2017 as the Dechmont Forklift Trucks National Hot Rod European Championship comes to town with a record-breaking 37 cars currently booked in. The action gets underway at 5pm this Saturday April 1st and 1pm on Sunday April 2nd at HRP Lochgelly Raceway.