THE fans arrived in huge numbers at HRP Lochgelly Raceway as the third of four Speed Weekends at the venue in 2014 was hosted by Hardie Race Promotions.

The feature races would be the H&J Burgoyne 1300 Stock Car World Championship and the Oval Track Legends European Championship.

The pits were full to capacity and the first order of business on the Saturday evening was to find out which drivers would take the last four places on the grid for the 1300 Stock Car World Championship.

Former British Champion Fraser Clark, had not managed to automatically qualify due to only recently returning to the formula, but he secured his slot on the grid by taking the win – more on him later!

Kai McNulty, George Coats and Dale Robertson grabbed the remaining places on the grid for the big one.

Some 39 cars took to the track due to a non-arrival from Northern Ireland and the grid was quickly formed for the 1300 Stock Car World Championship – 25 laps to determine who would carry the gold roof for the next 12 months.

Kings Lynn driver, Wes Freestone, claimed pole position with Scotland’s Jason Secker on his outside and they began rolling as they followed the HRP pace cars on a slow formation lap. As one of the pace cars pulled off the grid was taken round by the remaining pace car to the green flag as the crowd cheered on their favourites.

Sometimes a race comes along that it is just impossible to see everything that was going on – this was certainly one of those. The drivers got well and truly stuck in from the off and cars flew everywhere as the bumpers were used to full effect.

Ian Beaumont, Secker and Freestone piled in as defending champion Ross Fisher and Scottish hopes Jim Pitcaithly, Lee Buchan and the returning Craig Haxton all looked well on the pace with Haxton eventually settling into second place behind British Champion Adam O’Dell.

There were several yellow flags during the race – a few of these caused by the ever-controversial Billy Smith who was making as much of a nuisance of himself as he could as the young Norfolk driver did all he could to prevent a home win by eliminating Scottish cars. Each time the race was restarted; O’Dell demonstrated maturity and race-craft that bely his tender years as he withstood the pressure to come home in first place to claim the title of World Champion with Fraser Clark making incredible progress from grid 37 as he posted a fantastic second place and Adam’s father Steve made it a family affair as he claimed the last podium place in third.

The Oval Track Legends made history as they made their first appearance in Scotland and they arrived in great numbers to battle for their European Championship.

The cars (see top right picture) are built in America and have a huge following in the States; they looked similar to 1930’s style American Hot Rods and are powered by superbike engines and certainly made for a cracking spectacle.

National Points leader, Martin Heath, took the first win of the day with Matt Roach claiming the other heat. The European Championship took place under the floodlights at HRP Lochgelly Raceway and the cars looked amazing as they powered around the tarmac.

The race was stopped almost as soon as it began when Chris Prior rolled his car three times having climbed over the front of the Richard Poulter machine – Chris was fine but it looks like the car may not see the track again! Heath was at the front of the race and looked to be the next European Champion as he increased his lead only for engine to go sick in the last few laps handing the win to Rob Bunting who became the 2014 European Champion with Miles Rudman and Matt Roach claiming the other podium places.

An action packed full schedule was planned over two days of racing and the support races in the 1300 Stock Cars on the Saturday night saw two wins for one of Scotland’s up and coming stars in Kai McNulty, who will now race from the blue grade. The Superstox were also in action and Lee Livingston emulated McNulty as he took two heat wins and he will also now be upgraded to blue in the open-wheel class; European Champion Stuart Gilchrist took the win in the feature final. The Ninja Karts were also in action this past Saturday and Charlie Auchterlonie, Declan Honeyman and Keir Millar each claimed a victory.

The Sunday would see the same four formulas competing plus the addition of the Stock Rods as HRP scheduled a busy fifteen race programme of events.

The Ninja Karts got the ball rolling as they competed for the Dream Build UK Trophy and the same three drivers who claimed the wins the previous evening once again were victorious as Auchterlonie, Honeyman and Millar took the wins. Millar and Auctherlonie were tied on points so were declared as joint winners while Mirren Adams claimed the trophy as the highest scoring white top of the weekend.

The Stock Rods saw a healthy eighteen cars arrive to do battle and it was an on-form Brett Sneddon who took the first race with another form driver Siobhan Martin taking the second heat before Kelty’s Darren McAlpine claimed a fine win in the final. The first heat of Sunday’s Superstox action saw a win for visiting Suffolk driver Michael Robinson before Paul Mackie took another win in heat two but it was that man Lee Livingston who claimed victory in the final ahead of the debuting Kenny Mitchell. The Oval Track Legends were back in action and on a mainly dry day they were able to display the power of these pocket rockets – Sean Smith claimed the inaugural Scottish Open Championship.

The 1300 Stock Cars were back in action with a few less cars due to the hard-hitting World Final meeting the previous evening, but there were still more than enough cars on track with over thirty cars in attendance. Fraser Clark maintained his cracking form as he claimed victory in both heats as Billy Smith picked up where he left off following an engine change as he battled with anyone and everyone within striking distance. The last race for the 1300 Stock cars was the Print 4 U Scottish Open and a closed grid format was adopted and a cracking race ensued with action aplenty. It was Glenrothes’ Lee Buchan who came through to make up for his disappointment the previous evening as he took the Open Scottish title with Dale Robertson unlucky to finish second having led for most of the way until a late caution eliminated the gap he had built up on those following him; newly-crowned World Champion Adam O’Dell came home in third to round off an incredible weekend of stock car action. A fantastic weekend with some great racing has only enhanced the track’s growing reputation across the stock car world.

This weekend sees racing taking place on Sunday August 24th at 2pm and the 1300 Stock cars will be back in action as Jason Secker defends his Scottish Championship.