FOLLOWING some rather heavy blizzards in the afternoon; the wind eased as the sun went down and a cool, crisp evening greeted drivers, teams and race fans as they gathered under the floodlights at HRP Lochgelly Raceway to witness the first of the regular Friday night events in 2014 last week.

With a new start time of 7pm ensuring that racing would be finished at a reasonable hour, a large number of fans gathered to watch another four-formula spectacular at Scotland’s most modern short oval motorsports facility.

The CC Rods made their 2014 debut with a more basic set of rules encouraging some new drivers to take to the field on a night where a turnout in double figures was an encouraging start to the new season.

2013 Track Champion Paul Barron, from Cowdenbeath, has yet to declare his intentions for 2014 so it was Scottish Champion Johnny Bell, from Lochgelly, who would start the meeting as favourite. Come heat one and Bell stamped his authority all over proceedings as he made his way from the rear of the grid to take up the running and the chequered flag.

A similar pattern developed in heat two and the final as Bell dominated the evening in his smart Fiesta. A good night for the formula and a great night for local driver Bell.

The ProStocks were also making their 2014 HRP Lochgelly Raceway debut with a good turnout of over 20 cars including World Champion Ni969 Ryan Abernethy who had made the long trip over from Northern Ireland to test his car at the 2014 World Cup venue.

Abernethy struggled in heat one which was a bit stop-start as drivers found their feet and, indeed, the race was brought under caution for a crash on the back straight involving a few drivers. On the resumption of the race it was debutant Aundre Adams, from Lochgelly, who took victory in his first ever race!

Not to be outdone, the more established drivers took control of Heat Two as Tam Melrose took victory from Scott Ramsay and European/British Champion Jazz Moore – all three of these highly-talented drivers have registered with Hardie Race Promotions for 2014 and it looks like a cracking year ahead for the ProStocks.

Abernethy finally got his car going the way he would expect it to as he stormed to victory in the final; beating Moore and Ramsay to the chequered flag.

The Superstox were on track for the first time this year with the unfortunate Alan Cuthbert falling victim to a damaged starter before racing even begun.

Following a back operation during the winter; Scottish National Points Champion, Stuart Gilchrist, now had a clean bill of health and many were expecting him to dominate the evening. However, it was another driver, Coatbridge’s Chris Miller, who was easily driver of the meeting as he took two heat wins and a second place in the final to Gilchrist. Miller had endured a terrible 2013 with expensive engine troubles all year hurting the team financially and no doubt emotionally.

It was gratifying to see the highly talented young man finally get some reward for his efforts and hopefully this will be the start of a great season for Miller and the Superstox as a whole. David Frame had a nasty incident in the second heat when his prop-shaft let go causing bruising to his left leg – we are pleased to report that David, while “tender and sore”, is in good spirits and looking forward to getting back on track soon. We wish him well.

The 1300 Stock Cars were back and in greater numbers than last week’s fantastic first outing. The question on many people’s lips was, how well could the new white top drivers do after a great showing the previous week? The answer came as early as heat one as Ross McBride stormed to his first victory in the formula and ensuring a trophy would be going home to Glenrothes. The white top domination continued in the next race as Paul Beaton took the honours in heat two, again from the novice white grade! The meeting final saw Beaton on top form once again as he took a heat and final double securing his place in the yellow grade for the next meeting.

In last week’s final Zak Gilmour finished in the runner-up spot but put together a run of results that saw him inside the top three in every race – very impressive stuff! It will be interesting to see where these talented new drivers end up in the first re-grading at the end of March.

This Sunday's meeting at the Raceway starts at 2pm.