SATURDAY night saw the second stock car event to be held at HRP Lochgelly Raceway in 2015 and huge number of cars totalling over 100 gathered in the pits during the afternoon as the rain showers gave way to a dry but windy evening.

With sixteen races scheduled across the five formulas, the large crowd in attendance had a lot to look forward to at Scotland’s most-modern short oval motorsports facility.

The racing got underway with the amazing Ninja Karts (the formula for 6 to 11 year-olds) with their whites and yellows race, an opportunity for some of the youngsters to gain some track time without the threat of the higher graded drivers buzzing around them. This race saw a winning return to the formula for Charlie Hardie, who drove well to take his new machine to his first ever win. Lochgelly’s own Jake Wilson also got his first trophy with a fine second place while one of the form drivers of late 2014, Ryan Borthwick, came home third.

A number of visiting drivers had enhanced the huge entry in the junior formula and they went on to dominate the rest of the evening as Northern Irish pilot, Callum Magill, won his second race in as many weeks (his first being at his home track of Tullyroan). The rest of the night belonged to Peterborough’s Charley Tomblin, who took the spoils in the remaining two heats to round off a great night of frenetic action in the Ninja Karts, The slightly older kids were also in action as the Ministox returned for another night of entertainment. Recent Ninja Kart graduate, Keir Millar, stormed to his first Ministox win in heat one – testament to the young man’s skill and evidence of the value of the Ninja Kart formula – one to look out for in the future; Keir beat 2015 rookie Ben Creanor and his own big brother Euan to the win! Dunfermline’s Ben Creanor was clearly not happy to settle for second and the ex-kart racer stormed to his first victory in only the fifth race of his career – beating top driver Steven Burgoyne and double race winner from last week, John Crawford, as he did so! Having got a taste for the victory lane, young Ben doubled up with victory in the feature final as he managed to hold off two of Scotland’s best in Euan Millar and Steven Burgoyne on a fantastic night of Ministox racing.

Hardie Race Promotion’s own budget domestic class, the CC Rods, took to the track for the first time in 2015 on Saturday night at HRP Lochgelly Raceway and it was clear from the outset that the standard of preparation in the formula has stepped up to an even higher level than before with some stunning machinery on display. All eyes would be focussed on the “big three” of Stewart Aitken, Johnny Bell and Ian Taylor, who enjoyed some epic battles last year as the track championship for 2015 began.

It was Scottish Champion Taylor who drew first blood in heat one as he stormed to an excellent win from Derek Campbell and Paul Bell. Paul Muir took victory in his ultra-smart Fiesta in heat two having beaten Aitken and Taylor to the line respectively. The feature final saw a number of cars remain in the pits due to mechanical issues but Stewart Aitken will certainly not complain as he took his maiden win of the year as he beat arch-rivals Taylor and Bell to the line, with Craig Watson being the only other finisher.

The Stock Rods were back in action for the second week in a row and it was great to see one of 2014’s form men, Brett Sneddon, back on track as well as veteran driver James Halkett. Unfortunately for Halkett, his evening was cut short when his engine let go and dropped oil around the entire circuit during heat one. Former multi-champion Chris Lattka has hit the ground running in 2015 and took a fine heat win from John Venters and younger brother Jonathan Lattka. It was the same drivers in the top three at the conclusion of heat two but this time it was Kinross driver Venters who took his first win of 2015 from Chris and Jonathan Lattka.

Brett Sneddon showed he had lost none of his speed with two solid fourth place finishes in the heats. The feature final was punctuated with an incident which saw Sneddon’s car make contact with one of the infield marker tyres which brought an end to his challenge for honours.

It was Kelty’s John Lee Green who had got ahead of the rest and looked odds on for his first win of the season before Chris Lattka chased him down and managed to squeeze past Green as the laps wound down. Green held on for second place while National Points Champion Siobhan Martin made it on to the final step of the podium in another great night of stock rod racing.

The final formula on show were the 1300 Stock Cars – Scotland’s top stock car formula and HRP Lochgelly Raceway is where the formula has truly found its home.

The HRP 1300s put on a fantastic show last week and, while this week perhaps did not quite hit the heights of last week, there was certainly plenty going on to keep the fans entertained! Heat One saw Eddie Corr score his first win in the formula after securing a third in last week’s feature final as he beat cousins Ryan and Dean McGill to the chequered flag.

Dean McGill scored his first win in heat two as the Kirkcaldy driver beat 2014 Track Champion Lee Buchan, of Glenrothes, to victory lane. The final was another hectic race and this time it was Ryan McGill who took the feature final winner’s trophy home to Kirkcaldy having pipped last week’s hat-trick hero Zak Gilmour and Eddie Corr to victory.

This Saturday sees the Ninja Karts back in action once more. This time they will be joined by the National Hot Rods in their only appearance at HRP before the Dechmont Forklift Trucks European Championship on April 18th and 19th.

The ProStocks will be making their first appearance of 2015 at HRP Lochgelly Raceway while the Superstox return to action once again. The fifth formula on show this week will see the metal mashing mayhem of the Rookie Bangers take to HRP Lochgelly Raceway for the first time this year.

The action gets underway at 5:45pm.