A DRY day gave way to a chilly evening this past Saturday at HRP Lochgelly Raceway as drivers, teams and fans gathered for the latest slice of stock car action presented by Hardie Race Promotions, writes our Raceway reporter Les Waller.

Four formulas were on show, plus demonstration runs from the Junior Productions, and the pits were busy as the 6pm start time loomed large.

With the Junior Productions seeing their numbers affected by incidents in practice; the decision was taken, with only one car still running, to allow Cameron Willacy to do a few demonstration laps prior to the meeting and also a few during nearer the end of the event to show prospective drivers and teams the fast way around the track! With five drivers already registered, the formula should be on the right path very soon.

Of the four main formulas on the night, it was the CC Rods who got the action underway with their first heat.

A fantastic twenty cars arrived to do battle with more to come as the formula continues to thrive. Heat One saw some great battles throughout the grid but it was previous two-time final winner Jack Robertson (Penicuik) who came through to take the win in his Fiesta ahead of the Corsa of Bonnyrigg’s Jamie Brown and Leslie’s Ian Hotchkies who continues to campaign his unique MK2 Astra.

The second heat saw Robertson not take his place on the grid as mechanical issues ended his challenge for the evening. Chaos ensued in the early stages of heat two with a number of incidents reducing a number of drivers to the role of spectator; most notable among them was Colin Wotherspoon who collided with another car leaving his Fiesta looking decidedly second hand.

Once the race resumed, it was Jamie Brown who, having taken a heat win last time out, repeated the feat with victory in heat two ahead of Scottish and National Points Champion Ian Donaldson and Kevin Donaldson. With a number of cars not being able to repair the heat two damage in time for the final; there were around 15 cars on track for the feature race and this saw Colin Wotherspoon drive a fantastic race in his hastily-repaired car to take an excellent win ahead of Brown and Graham Osborne. Osborne had led for a good deal of the race and is certainly one to watch in May.

The 2.0 Hot Rods saw what may well be a record turnout for a domestic event with no less than sixteen cars on track. Fifteen of those were HRP drivers while the lone visitor was former-Superstox racer Dale Fewings who was making his debut in the formula after the long trip north in a stunning Peugeot 106 – it was also great to see Lochore’s Billy Bonnar back in the formula as he borrowed the Gordon Hendry car.

The first heat saw Gary Black make the early running as he battled with Kevin Stewart but it was Alex Wilson who came through to claim the win with his Corsa looking very quick once again as he beat Stewart and William Hardie to the line. The second heat saw Black and Stewart make the early running again from the white grade but Stewart managed to claim the lead and powered away from the rest of the pack to take an excellent maiden victory ahead of Gill Anderson and Wilson who were not able to close the gap in the final stages of the race.

The feature final was another fantastic race with the lower graders laying the gauntlet down to those starting behind them as they tore away at the green flag.

Kelty’s Kinzie Law found himself in the lead and held a decent gap on his challengers but this began to reduce in the latter stages of the race with the charge being led by William Hardie.

Hardie held a 100% record in feature finals at HRP Lochgelly Raceway going into the meeting and, after chasing down Law, was able to maintain that record with another feature win. Sadly for Law, he was caught on the last corner by a number of cars which saw him relegated to sixth as Gill Anderson and Scottish Champion Gordon Alexander claimed the final podium spots.

The Stock Rods were back at HRP Lochgelly Raceway and it was a crucial meeting as it was the final event of the 2016/17 National Points Championship.

Three drivers were still in with a mathematical chance of claiming the silver roof with Scottish Champion Chris Lattka holding a twenty-point lead over defending two-time National Points Champion Siobhan Martin who, in turn, held a ten-point lead over Best in Britain Champion Jonathan Lattka.

The lower graders have dominated the sharp end of the results so far in 2017 and heat one was no exception as a rapid Brian Wilson (Springfield) claimed yet another one in his Nova ahead of fellow yellow grader Ryan Venters (Steelend) and Larbert’s Jonathan Lattka. The second heat saw chaos reign on the first corner with a number of the yellow graded drivers unable to take part in the restarted race. However, it was one of the remaining yellow tops who made most of the running with Cowdenbeath’s Stewart Paterson finally getting his Corsa going well after a number of issues. Paterson led all the way until the closing stages when he was passed by Scottish Champion Chris Lattka who went on to take the win and, with it, the 2016/17 National Points Championship.

Paterson held on for second ahead of Kelty’s Darren McAlpine who was showing no adverse effects from his upgrading to red. The feature final saw a number of incidents which were more akin to stock car racing which kept the steward and officials busy but it was Heat One winner Wilson who kept a level head while others around him were losing theirs to claim an excellent heat and final winning double with McAlpine and John Venters filling the other podium spots.

The final formula on show have been in imperious form in 2017 and continued that this past Saturday as the Superstox returned to HRP Lochgelly Raceway.

With David Frame absent, Scottish Champion Bryan Forrest had the opportunity to take full advantage as their battle for the National Points title continued. Heat One was a brilliant race with action on every corner and the bumpers used to full effect but it was recent hat-trick winner Alex Hamilton who found himself at the front of the grid at the end of the twenty-lap race to take yet another win as he bested defending points champion Stuart Gilchrist and Tony Lattka.

The second heat saw a flying Kenny McKenzie claim his first win for some time as he took full advantage of his yellow grade start to take the win ahead of Allan Gibson and Stuart Gilchrist. The feature final was another race of high-speed and high-quality and Steven Ballantine must have thought he was going to claim his first win of the season for a number of laps until Stuart Gilchrist overhauled the yellow top to take the win ahead of Ballantine and Forrest to bring an excellent night of racing to an end.

Next Saturday May 6th sees a very important and poignant event at HRP Lochgelly Raceway as the stock car family will gather to remember Keir Millar who tragically passed away almost two years ago. The National Micro Bangers, Ministox, Ninja Karts, 1300 Stock Cars and 2.0 Hot Rods will all be in action in an event that begins at 5pm on Saturday May 6th at HRP Lochgelly Raceway.