A GLORIOUS sunny day greeted drivers, teams and fans on Sunday as HRP Lochgelly Raceway opened its doors for the latest slice of Stock car action presented by Hardie Race Promotions.

A busy fifteen race programme, featuring five formulas, was the order of the day.

The ProStocks were first on track in their last outing before their huge World Cup event here on October 4th where they will be joined by well in excess of one hundred Micro National Bangers – nine Northern Irish drivers have confirmed their intention to race and it looks like a large grid of ProStocks will descend on HRP Lochgelly Raceway for their biggest race of the year next weekend.

Back to Sunday’s action and it was one of the local heroes, Lochgelly’s Keith Ananndale, who took victory in heat one having managed to fend off the fast moving British Champion Tam Melrose. Melrose made no mistake in heat two as the positions were reversed and the British Champion made it a heat and final double as he beat another Lochgelly man, Aundre Adams, and Annandale to the feature final win.

The Superstox were back on track and the formula welcomed another debutant as former Stock Rod racer, Ralph Sturrock, took to the track for his first meeting in the open-wheel class. Sturrock put his first points on the board with a tenth place in heat one but it was all about the sport’s big three up here at the moment at the front where European Champion Stuart Gilchrist took the victory from David Frame and Barry Stephen; the race was punctuated with a spectacular rollover for Kenny McKenzie (see picture).

Gilchrist repeated his feat in heat two with Stephen and Frame reversing places. With Gilchrist looking for a hat trick in the feature final; it was Frame who came out on top as Gilchrist failed to finish with Barry Stephen and Frame’s brother, Colin in third.

The 2.0 Hot Rods were back on track and the question, as always was, who could stop the domination of Scottish & National Points Champion Gordon Alexander and Kerr Paterson? The answer came this past Sunday and it was emphatic as Alex Wilson took a fantastic hat-trick in his Ford Zetec-powered machine – Kerr Paterson posted runner-up finishes in heat one and the feature final while it was Jock Campbell who finished second to Wilson in heat two.

Wilson had been the only driver using the newer engine configuration at HRP Lochgelly Raceway until this past Sunday when former Stock Rod star Gill Anderson debuted his brand new Vauxhall Corsa C which was also Zetec powered. Anderson posted a heat fifth and final sixth and will no doubt be quicker on his next outing.

This past Sunday wasn’t really about ProStocks, Superstox, 2.0 Hot Rods or indeed National Saloons. The spotlight was focused firmly on the younger generation of stars as 25 Ninja Karts arrived at HRP Lochgelly Raceway with the 6-11 year olds all hoping to become the inaugural Ninja Karts Scottish Champion.

The Ninja Karts began racing here at HRP Lochgelly Raceway last year and, from just five or six karts at their first event, can now boast a driver base of over 30 young stars. A fantastic achievement and Hardie Race Promotions elected to reward Scotland’s largest junior class with their own Scottish Championship event – grid positions would be decided by a random draw.

Early season sensation Mitchell Gold would line up on pole position with World Cup winner and pre-race favourite Keir Millar on Grid 7. Top lady racers Taylor Borthwick, Mirran Adams and Charlie Henry, would line up on grids 19, 20 and 22 respectively.

The Ninja Karts never fail to put on a spectacular show and, with 25 cars on the grid, they did just that with Millar losing a lap in an accidental clash with Lewis Clark Burgoyne. None of that deterred a determined Taylor Borthwick who stormed through the field from her 19th starting place to take a fantastic victory from Declan Honeyman and David Sinclair to become the first ever Ninja Kart Scottish Champion and take home the gigantic perennial trophy kindly donated by Chris Burgoyne Motorsports.

Taylor nearly made it a double on the day but was pipped by Keir Millar in heat one while Scottish Championship runner-up, Declan Honeyman, went some way to alleviating that disappointment with victory in heat two. The Ninja Kart drivers all received a goodie bag courtesy of Nicola and Laura Sharp, from the Ministox/Ninja Kart Disco, on a day where every one of HRP’s little stars was a winner once more.