A GLORIOUS evening greeted a large crowd as drivers, teams and fans gathered at HRP Lochgelly Raceway this past Saturday for one of the more unique meetings to be promoted by Hardie Race Promotions this year – the National Micro Banger World Cup, writes Les Waller.

An event that has been looked forward to by many since the beginning of the year was finally here and over 70 Micro Bangers (cars such as Nissan Micras, Vauxhall Corsas and Ford Fiestas) gathered to do battle for the right to wear the coveted gold roof.

With so many cars in the pits from all over the UK, two half car heats were the order of the day and the first race saw 36 cars take to the track. It didn’t take long for the drivers to get stuck in and the large crowd in attendance were treated to a fantastic race full of crashing, cars spinning and even a rollover!!!

Paul McNulty Jr took the first win of the day thereby maintaining Scottish pride. More of the same followed in heat two with some great wrecking and this time it was an English win as Adam Storr came through the carnage to take a fine flag.

The drivers and their crews worked wonders in the pits after these heats and, of the 71 cars that arrived at HRP Lochgelly Raceway that day; 58 were still mobile for the big event of the evening – the National Micro Banger World Cup.

The sight of almost 60 cars on the tight confines of HRP Lochgelly Raceway’s tarmac under the floodlights made for an incredible sight and it was clear before the start that the drivers and the crowd were tingling with excitement.

As the green flag dropped, the carnage began with cars being spun and smashed to pieces everywhere you looked with the ‘Bar Bend’ being a particular source of mayhem.

It looked more like a scrap yard as car after car was sent fencewards as the drivers battled with one another.

When the race was halted to rescue a stranded driver; there were very few cars left and of the 58 starters only five made the chequered flag with Scotland’s Andy Webster bringing his MK5 Ford Fiesta home in first place to be crowned World Cup Champion!!!

An all-comers race saw around twenty cars take to the track to round off the evening and this race was won by Cowdenbeath’s own Paul Barron with heat two winner Storr in second place on a fantastic evening of metal munching mayhem!!!

Sunday saw just under 40 Micro Bangers return for a second day of action with the Open Scottish Championship on the line and it was Adam Jackson who took the title home to England in a race of attrition with only seven finishers! Jackson also claimed the win in the dash before compatriot Stuart Beevis claimed the win in a hugely entertaining Destruction Derby.

Not only did Saturday see the Micro Banger World Cup take place; the P&C Aerials ProStocks World Cup was also up for grabs on the biggest night of the year for the limited contact class.

With several Northern Irish visitors, British Champion Tam Melrose and National Points Champion Jazz Moore, plus a brand new car for star driver Scott Ramsay, it was a truly open contest.

The Northern Irish drivers are truly at the top of their game at the moment and this was underlined when Stuarty Agnew came from the rear of the grid in heat one to take a fantastic win - Agnew posted a second place behind compatriot Alan Haugh to claim pole position for the big race.

Agnew flew into the lead early in the race but was ably chased by the likes of Ramsay and Moore, indeed, it looked like Ramsay was going to claim a great victory in his new car as he managed to squeeze past Agnew but the Ulsterman’s pace saw him reclaim the top spot in time to claim the title of P&C Aerials ProStocks World Cup Champion!

Having claimed a win the previous evening, Alan Haugh managed to claim victory in this past Sunday’s P&C Aerials ProStocks Open Scottish Championship and it was fellow Ulsterman, Conor McElmeel, who took the win in the first heat and Leonard Dunn made it a Northern Irish hat trick as he won the final ProStocks race of a fantastic weekend of action.

The 1300 Stock Cars were also in action for the two days of the final HRP Speed Weekend of 2014 and arrived in fantastic numbers with just under 30 cars ready to do battle – underlining their growing reputation as the most watchable stock car formula in the country.

Cowdenbeath’s Fraser Anderson returned after a few week’s absence to claim victory in heat one in the first race under the new gradings.

Zak Gilmour, now down to blue grade, took full advantage as he returned to the victory lane in heat two but he failed to finish in the final as Anstruther’s Paul Beaton took the win from Anderson.

The race was punctuated by some antics between Fraser Clark and Jason Secker which saw Secker slamming his brakes on thereby slowing Clark down – arguably Scotland’s top two drivers in the formula; neither covered themselves in glory in this incident!

Fraser Anderson continued his great weekend as he scored yet another win in heat one on the Sunday afternoon, with Fraser Clark claiming victory in heat two. The feature final was for the annual Bill Auld Fabrications Trophy and the drivers were clearly determined to put on a show as the bumpers were used to good effect with Lochgelly’s own Euan Mathieson emerging as the victor with Clark in second and Kai McNulty in third.

Kev Baird took victory in the all-comers as Clark posted yet another runners up place to round off a great two days of full-on 1300 stock car racing action.

This past Sunday saw two non-contact formulas join in the fray as the 2.0 Hot Rods and Stock Rods gathered in the pits. The 2.0 Hot Rods saw a number of new additions including Craig Dillon in the ex-Mackie car, and former Saloon Scottish Champion Robbie Burgoyne, in a car acquired from Northern Ireland, as a very healthy field of 14 cars arrived to do battle.

Kerr Paterson scored first blood as he beat main rival Gordon Alexander to the flag in heat one but Alexander turned the tables in heat two with victory over Keith Chesher and Paterson. Chesher went one better in the final as the Dunfermline pilot scored his first win in the formula.

The Stock Rods saw 15 cars take to the track and it was the returning John Venters who looked determined to make up for lost time with the win in heat one. Steven Alexander took an excellent win in heat two from team mate John McAllister but it was Venters who returned to victory lane in the feature final as he took the win from Stevie McIntrye and James Gray.

The next slice of stock car action at Scotland’s most-modern short oval circuit comes this Sunday October 12th and features the National Saloon Stock Cars, Superstox, CC Rods, Ministox and the Lightning Rods. The action gets underway at 2pm this Sunday!