IT was a dry, chilly and windy evening at the stock car meeting at the Cowdenbeath Racewall on Saturday and the dreaded rain which had been forecast failed to materialise, writes Jim Turner.

However, a healthy formula II field was decimated when the leader’s car blew it’s engine and the resulting shunt proved to be disastrous with only half a dozen cars surviving. Newcomer Colin Forbes ended up parked sideways against the wall in a debut he will wish to forget.

Such was the carnage that only nine cars made it back onto the grid for the re-run whilst a few others were back in action by the time that the final started. However, four cars failed to reappear and two only managed one more race!

In the minis Charlie Folan was in a hefty shunt on the pit bend and was later taken to hospital for a check to a back injury. White grader Teri Linden crashed out at the start to heat two but was unhurt.

There was plenty of close and fast stock rod racing with Stuart McKinnon and James Gray having their first outings of the season whilst Chris Chance and Simon Morris were the visitors from Barford.

The saloon action came thick and fast with Jonny Laing making his debut whilst James Serplus was over from Northern Ireland.

There was a healthy turn out of formula IIs for the meeting with grade awards on hand for the first white and yellow graders home whilst there was also an award for the first English car home in the final. Mind you after the destruction in the opening heat it looked doubtful if any of the English drivers would make it onto the grid for the final!

World Formula II Champion, George MacMillan Jnr, was leading the home challenge and he is at present leading the National Points from Craig Wallace with Chris Burgoyne in fourth spot. Charlie Whitfield and John Broatch were the visitors from south of the border whilst the local driver in action was Paul Reid (Cowdenbeath). Reid was caught up in the shunt but was back out for restart although he retired from the meeting prior to the end of the race.

The opening race of the night was a white/yellow challenge heat and whilst newcomer Forbes was pushed off the grid it was newcomer Colin Thomson who led from start to finish to claim his first formula II win over Peter Henderson and Holly Glen.

The opening heat was a disaster and only lasted a few laps before it was abandoned. Brian Hogg Jnr was leading but had Thomson in close order but when they came to lap Forbes, Hogg’s engine blew, depositing its oil all over the entrance to the turnstile bend. As Hogg’s car spun he collected Thomson and Forbes and slid to the wall resulting in the Forbes car being sent up against the wall. However, before the drivers could move they were joined in the shunt by nearly all the field. As a result the race was abandoned, the track cleared and another race run, before the formula IIs were back onto the grid. Only nine cars were able to restart with Thomson the initial leader. However, he was to be caught as the race progressed by MacMillan Jnr who led home Chris Burgoyne and Robbie Dawson.

Thomson was again the leader when heat two got underway but this time it was a flying Burgoyne who worked his way through the field and once ahead went on to win from MacMillan Jnr and Dawson.

Dennis Middler, Whitfield and John Hogg, had managed to repair their cars and took their place on the grid for the final. Thomson was again the leader from Henderson but Fortune was leading the star grade driver although he was to receive the black cross for an early infringement. On lap five Fortune was ahead of Liam Rennie and Burgoyne whilst MacMillan Jnr and Wallace were running in close order.

Burgoyne moved into second as Thomson dropped back but try as he might he just couldn’t close the gap. However, Fortune was removed from the results with Burgoyne the winner from Wallace who had managed to get the better of MacMillan Jnr who had to settle for third.

Fortune went on to win the Grand National from Rennie and Wallace with Burgoyne’s dash through the field only netting him tenth place.

The saloon drivers were again in good form with some hard racing and plenty of action. Laing was the only newcomer whilst Serplus was over from Northern Ireland and the Fife driver was Ross Watters (Leven) who was to suffer a mechanical problem and retired from heat two.

Graeme Shevill was first across the finish line when heat one started but was penalised for an infringement handing the win to Barry Russell, with Willie Mitchell claiming second and Shevill dropped to third whilst Watters was ninth. Russell made it a double success when he went on to win the second heat this time from Shevill and W. Mitchell.

Addison Weir led the cars away when the final started but soon lost out to Keith Mitchell. A few laps later Russell sent K. Mitchell bouncing off the wall as he moved into the lead just ahead of W. Mitchell. Shevill closed on the cars ahead and made short work before going into the lead. Once there he pulled away to win from Russell and W. Mitchell.

There was some close and exciting dicing in all the stock rods races with the local drivers being James Matson (Glenrothes), David Dignan (Leven), Steven Archibald (Glenrothes) and Michael Bethune (Kirkcaldy).

Stuart McKinnon went on to win the opening heat although it was during the closing stages when he opened up a slight gap to win from Derek Conner and James Gray with Bethune in sixth and Dignan in ninth place. In heat two McKinnon led from the early stages before going on to win from Gray and Bethune with Archibald in seventh.

When the final started Cameron Doak went straight into the lead but had Dignan in a close second although John McAllister and Conner running in close order. McAllister took the lead at the half distance but was under pressure from Conner and whilst he held off the challenge for most of the time eventually lost out on the last lap as Conner slipped inside to win from McAllister with Bethune third and Dignan sixth As usual the ministox drivers were in good form with the local driver being John Crawford (Cowdenbeath).

Heat one ended with Steven Burgoyne going through to win from Euan Millar with Crawford in third place. Heat two saw E. Millar go on to win from Burgoyne and Crawford. Crawford had led the final initially but was passed by Burgoyne then E. Millar. However, during the closing stages E. Millar managed to get the inside line to go through into the lead and on to win from Burgoyne and Crawford.

This Saturday the formula II drivers are back in action along with the 1300cc saloons, lightning rods, ministox and MicroF2s. The minis are racing for their Easter Challenge and the meeting starts at 6pm.

*The formula II drivers who have aspirations for the National Points are in for a busy weekends racing this coming weekend with a race at Northampton on Friday in the afternoon, then Skegness at night, the Racewall on Saturday, Barford on Sunday, then Skegness on Monday. Mind you the saloon drivers are in for a busy time with fixtures at Northampton on Friday followed by King’s Lynn on Saturday and then over to St Day for Sunday and then Taunton on Easter Monday.