A TYPICAL Scottish summer’s day greeted drivers, teams and fans as they gathered at HRP Lochgelly Raceway for the start of the second half of the Scottish Stock Car Season in changeable weather with the track varying during the evening from dry to wet for the five formulas that were on duty, writes our Raceway reporter Les Waller.

The 6-11 year old pilots were first on track as the Ninja Karts kicked-off the evening’s action with their traditional whites and yellows race and it was a welcome win for Jodie Gordon, whose appearances this year have been somewhat sporadic, as she held off the challenge of the fast-moving Toby Tyson with Kaydan Day coming home in third spot.

Heat One saw the addition of the blue, red and superstar graded drivers and it was the young man who took all three heat wins last time out who made it four out of four as National Points and Scottish Champion Charlie Hardie claimed yet another win with Kaydan Day enjoying another good finish in second while Scott Allardyce claiming third place to claim a trophy in his final meeting before “retirement” and a move to the Ministox formula. Scott has been one of the stalwarts of the formula over recent years and it will be great to see how he progresses in the Ministox while the Allardyce name remains in Ninja Karts in the ever-improving Nicole Allardyce.

Heat Two saw Hardie hit the front in his usual dominant style but a mechanical issue brought his run to an end and it was the British and European Champion Robbie Armit who took the win.

The last heat of the evening saw Hardie back on track and he took yet another win to make it five from the last six races as he beat Rachel Kidd and Harry Robertson to the line to conclude the Ninja Kart racing for the evening.

The youngsters will be heading across the water to Northern Ireland this coming weekend as they contest their National Championship – let’s hope for yet another Scottish victory in that one!

The ProStocks were also back in action after a few weeks off and it was good to see a reasonable number of cars on track once again as the drivers set their sights on the 2017 World Cup which will be held here at HRP Lochgelly Raceway in October. The majority of the usual suspects were in attendance as the battle on track resumed for 2017 and it was Scott Gordon who drew first blood as he took the first win of the evening ahead of Ian Christie and Robert Hamilton. Paul Barron had claimed fourth in heat one but he quickly returned to form in heat two as he took a dominant win ahead of Jason McAlpine and recent final winner Ryan O’Shea.

The feature final saw Grady Ross take an excellent win in his recently-debuted Astra as he held off the challenge of heat winners Barron and Christie to take victory in the last race of the evening for the limited contact class.

The National Hot Rods had contested their World Championship at the beginning of July which saw Chris Haird take a dominant win as he claimed his third gold roof while Scotland’s top finisher was Robert McDonald in an excellent third. McDonald had raced in the English qualification series during the past few years but has elected to race in Scotland for 2017/18.

Ten cars lined up for heat one, including Scotland’s four world finalists, but it was a veteran of many years of hot rod racing who claimed the first victory of the new world qualification series as Ian McGuigan made the trip form the borders very worthwhile as he took the win in heat one ahead of Steven Armit and 2016/17 points champion Ian Donaldson. Having gained a taste for victory in heat one, McGuigan went on to do exactly the same in heat two with victory coming after twenty laps of racing with Roy Anderson and McDonald filling the other podium spots.

The twenty-five lap feature final offered the drivers starting at the rear of the grid more time to make inroads on the likes of McGuigan and so it proved as Donaldson came through from the rear of the pack to take a storming win ahead of Robert McDonald while McGuigan held on for an excellent third to complete his best night of results for some time.

The Ministox returned to action after a couple of weeks rest, although some did choose to race away from home, and a reasonable grid of cars arrived at HRP Lochgelly Raceway for the evening’s action. While there were no English visitors, it was great to see Northern drivers Michael and Tamsin Gordon making the trip south for the night. In fact, Michael made the long trip especially worthwhile as he took his first win at HRP Lochgelly Raceway as he held off the challenge of Charlie Folan and Alex Robertson to secure that maiden victory.

ORCi Champion Steven Burgoyne took the win in heat two as he managed to overhaul the fast-moving Robertson and heat one winner Gordon to take another win in what has been an excellent 2017 for the Airth driver. Burgoyne went on to take the feature final in fine style too as he overhauled Declan Honeyman to take the win with Honeyman holding for second ahead of Terri Linden.

The Superstox were the final formula on show. Stuart Gilchrist took the title last time the race was held at Ipswich and he has targeted it as one of his objectives for 2017 and he is looking to hit form at just the right time as he took the win in heat one ahead of Alex Hamilton and doubled up with his second win of the night in heat two. A hat-trick looked to be on the cards in the feature final as Gilchrist was moving quickly through the field but he was involved in an incident which saw Hamilton and Kenny McKenzie in the fence on the exit of turn two before Tony Lattka and Gilchrist found them; bringing their challenge to a halt. David Frame went on to pick up another win in his challenge for the silver roof as he extended his points lead with Scottish Champion Bryan Forrest showing a return to form just ahead of the defence of his Scottish title on July 29. The Thomas Michie Memorial Trophy was given to the first white or yellow graded driver home in the final and that coveted trophy went home with Chris Cuthbert.

The next slice of stock car action comes to HRP Lochgelly Raceway this Saturday July 22 from 5:30pm and features the 1300 Stock Cars in one of just three remaining meetings before the ASD Welding Services World Championship at HRP Lochgelly Raceway in September, the Stock Rods, Ministox and CC Rods will also be in action while the fledgling Junior Productions get the event underway with some demonstration races.