A CHANGEABLE evening weather-wise greeted drivers, teams and fans as they gathered at HRP Lochgelly Raceway this past Saturday for another busy five formula, sixteen race programme of events at Scotland’s most-modern short oval motorsports facility, writes our Raceway scribe Les Waller.

The 6-11 year old drivers were first on track for their traditional whites and yellows race to open proceedings and it was a cracking race with some of the young female pilots showing off their skills at the sharp end of the grid and, after a battle with Demi Ritchie, it was Kaitlyn Smart who found herself in a lead that she held onto until the chequered flag for her first ever win with Demi finishing second and Jodie Gordon third making it an all-female top three – not sure if that has happened before! Heat One saw the blue and red graded drivers join the fray and it didn’t take long for Demi Ritchie and Kaitlyn Smart to underline their recent good form as they made the early running in this event until a red top train came surging through the pack including Bailey Millar, Charlie Hardie and European and newly-crowned British Champion, Robbie Armit.

As these three drivers raced hard for the win, Armit spun out but managed to get back up into sixth by the final reckoning with Millar taking the win ahead of Hardie and Scott Allardyce. The second heat saw a similar pattern with Zoe Mann being the white top at the front of the pack for a while before a fast-moving Hardie and Millar came through. Millar’s sister Lucy was also in the mix and indeed sibling rivalry came to the fore as these two excellent young drivers raced side by side but it was Points and Scottish Champion Hardie who took the win. The last heat of the evening saw Armit take his first win of the night after a great drive from the rear of the grid.

The CC Rods were back in action just seven days after their previous outing and race damage and holidays saw a slightly reduced field that was, nevertheless, still in the mid-teens which underlined the strength of HRP’s low-budget, non-contact class. Kirkcaldy’s Kevin Hutchison claimed the first win of the night ahead of Michael McNiven and Dougie Kidd. The second heat saw a very smart looking Fiat Punto join the grid in the hands of Kevin Easton although Bob Cairns was unable to race after engine trouble in heat one. The race saw Michael McNiven continue his recent run of form as he claimed another heat win with a flag to flag drive from the front; Davie McFarlane came home second with Kidd once again in third. The feature final saw McNiven repeat his exploits but this time from the back of the white grade. McNiven made short work of those ahead of him to take a commanding lead which the chasing pack were unable to do anything about.

The 2.0 Hot Rods were back on track for the penultimate time before their British Championship sponsored by David Philp Commercials here at HRP Lochgelly Raceway on June 10 and 11. It was great to see Dave Leech visiting from his Midlands base ahead of the British Championship while Polmont’s William Hardie returned to his home track having claimed the Midlands Championship at Birmingham seven days earlier. It was also the first appearance in the 2.0 Hot Rods of the season for defending British Champion Kenny Purdie who was on double duty racing his Classic Hot Rod at Cowdenbeath. At the end of the twenty laps, Hardie had fended off Hendry for the win with Alex Wilson coming home in third.

The second heat saw Wilson surge into the lead with Hardie leading the chase. Hardie managed to catch and pass Wilson with plenty of time to go while Wilson held on for second ahead of Purdie.

The feature final saw yellow top Kevin Stewart, who has won a couple of races so far this year, take an early lead after overhauling initial leader Paul Carruthers as the star graded drivers battled with each other.

Gordon Alexander appeared to get his set-up wrong in the heats but the Scottish Champion was flying in the final and he led the red top charge with earlier double heat winner Hardie not quite on the same pace this time around. Stewart maintained a very healthy lead all the way to the chequered flag to take and excellent feature victory ahead of Alexander and a welcome third spot for Englishman Leech.

The Stock Rods were back at HRP Lochgelly Raceway for their final meeting before the World Championship in Northern Ireland at the start of June.

Several drivers elected to preserve their cars as they preferred to take a watching brief but it was good to see Chris Hutchison back on track for his first meeting of the season at HRP Lochgelly Raceway.

The first heat saw Hutchison remind everyone that he knows the quick way around the tight confines of HRP Lochgelly Raceway from his CC Rods days as he took a maiden win as he held off Jonathan Lattka and Ricky White. As if to prove it was no fluke, Hutchison promptly went out and took his second win in heat two after a great race between him, Gary Nicholls and Ricky White.

The feature final saw Anstruther’s Paul Beaton streak into a huge lead from the yellow grade as a gaggle of cars held each other back from making a challenge but, eventually, Jonathan Lattka made the crucial move to slot into second place and begin his pursuit of Beaton.

As the laps wound down, the gap was clearly diminishing and, unfortunately for Beaton, Lattka managed to overhaul Beaton for the lead and the win with Beaton holding on for second ahead of Kelty’s Darren McAlpine.

The 1300 Stock Cars were also on track in the latest round of their £1000 MR Coachworks and Ringtone Racepaints Series and it was great to see Craig Jones and Craig McComb make their first appearances of the season.

It was local pilot Billy Wilson who took the winner’s trophy home to Lochgelly for heat one after a great battle between him and Jordan Cassie entertained the crowd as they traded blows and places on every turn with Wilson getting the eventual nod. The second heat saw Cassie go one better as he continued his recent good form with victory ahead of Wilson with fellow Lochgelly drivers Andrew Mathieson and Euan Mathieson in third and fourth after a brilliant battle between them and Craig Haxton for the minor places.

The feature final saw a depleted field take to the track but that did not deter Wilson who took a runaway win ahead of Andrew Mathieson and Jordan Cassie to round off a highly entertaining evening of action at HRP Lochgelly Raceway.

The next slice of stock car action at HRP Lochgelly Raceway comes your way this Saturday May 27 and features the National Hot Rods in their final World Championship Qualifier for 2017 along with the two top formulas in Scotland in the form of the Superstox and Ministox. Add in the 2.0 Hot Rods and Ninja Karts and it is another busy five formula, sixteen race programme of events at HRP Lochgelly Raceway this Saturday from 5:45pm.