An exodus of around thirty drivers and teams from HRP Lochgelly Raceway, not to mention hundreds of Scottish race fans, made the long trip south to deepest darkest Suffolk this past weekend to be a part of short oval motorsports biggest event of the year – the 2015 Ipswich Spedeweekend.

With over 400 cars participating across the marathon weekend and all of the top stars in one place, Ipswich Spedeweekend is a very special event and it was a fantastic effort by all involved to be a part of such a prestigious occasion.

Headlining the event was the CP Dynes National Hot Rod World Championship. The drivers who had qualified would determine their grid positions by lap times and Scot Ian Donaldson secured a place in the top 8, Robert McDonald would start 9th while David Philp would start 22nd in the brand new Vauxhall Tigra belonging to HRP Lochgelly Raceway promoter William Hardie.

The race was not kind to the Scottish drivers with McDonald knocked down the order in a short space of time before he began fighting his way back up the order, Donaldson slipped down as the 75 lap race carried on while Philp clipped the wall on the exit of turn two and failed to finish.

It was Shane Murphy, from the Republic of Ireland, who managed to claim his first ever World Championship after a number of near misses. Spare a thought for West Lothian’s John Sibbald who was denied a place on the grid by a baffling decision from the stewards in the last chance race when he was docked for contact which the vast majority of the thousands in attendance did not see.

The 2.0 Hot Rods saw five Scottish drivers form part of the 38 car field for their European Championship and, given previous battles against the top English and Northern Irish drivers which have ended in disappointment, little was expected from the Scottish contingent as the racing began.

However, the Scottish drivers have clearly benefitted from their experiences as they more than held their own against the top stars of the formula with Kenny Purdie, Kerr Paterson and Gordon Alexander in particular picking up some good results in the qualifying heats.

The race for the European Championship would see Northern Ireland’s Adam Hylands (a multi-champion in the formula) line up on pole beside top English star Gavin Botfield, World Champion Shane Murray was starting on the inside of row three while Scotland’s main hopes lay with Purdie starting on the outside of row three.

As the green flag dropped, Hylands shot into the lead as Murray, Botfield, Paul Wright and Purdie battled behind with Botfield losing out as he dropped down the order.

Dan Smith (a former champion) had started in 23rd after a poor qualifying campaign but he made short work of cracking the top ten. As all of this was happening, Purdie ate into Hylands’ lead before the Scotsman’s persistence paid off as he edged his nose in front of the Northern Irish star-man.

Purdie then proceeded to increase his lead as the laps wound down to claim a fantastic victory for himself, his family, his team, Hardie Race Promotions and Scotland!!!

Scotland’s Kerr Paterson crossed the line in second place but was docked two places for contact which elevated Hylands to second and Dan Smith to an excellent third place.

With the David Philp Commercials World Championship only six weeks away and on their home turf; the Scottish drivers (four of whom finished in the top ten of the European Championship) seem to be in no mood to allow the trophy to leave the country after August 15th – a fantastic achievement by all the drivers and teams and especially Team Purdie.

The Stock Rods also had a major championship on the line as the teams gathered to do battle for the British Championship. A stellar line-up from all corners of the short oval world saw a star studded field compete in two qualifying heats prior to the British Championship this past Sunday.

Following two highly competitive heats, former champion Andy Sturt lined up on pole position with Scotland’s Chris Lattka on his outside – Jonathan Lattka would start from grid position four. As the green flag dropped, the cars hurtled into turn one and Chris Lattka found himself sent on to the shale infield at an angle of 90 degrees to where he should have been – somehow the former five-time World Champion managed to regain control and come through to find himself still in second to Andy Sturt.

These two drivers have been at the top of Stock Rod racing for many years now and another classic battle ensued as both drivers battled for the lead with positions swapped several times as the race continued. Both drivers were asking for no quarter and certainly none was given. While Chris Lattka did everything he could to catch Sturt, smoke began to appear from the rear end of the 658 Corsa which slowed him down enough for Sturt to claim the title of 2015 British Champion while Chris Lattka held on for yet another podium finish in a championship race.

The 1300 Stock Cars were competing, as always, for their Supreme Championship on the Sunday of Ipswich Spedeweekend and it looked like another Scottish success was on the cards as Peter Low headed the field from fellow Scot Kevin Morrison in the closing stages of the race – that is before Ian Beaumont arrived on the scene. Beaumont (in classic stock car style) held up the leading drivers which allowed Will Morphey and World Champion Adam O’Dell to catch up. As the lead pack battled for position, it was O’Dell who managed to edge ahead to claim victory while Morrison just managed to pip Morphey to the finish line for second place in a fantastic race.

The Superstox were in National Championship action this past weekend and the five Scottish drivers battled hard against a huge field of open-wheel stock cars with very little to show for their efforts. Scotland’s current top two drivers (David Frame and Barry Stephen) were eliminated from a race which also saw Colin Aylward’s car annihilated on turn one in what looked like a demolition derby which was eventually won by second generation star Jordan Salmon.

Four intrepid youngsters also took part in the Ninja Kart ‘Stars of the Future Races’ which saw our drivers get the opportunity to race in front of a huge crowd.

Charlie Hardie took an excellent seventh place in the first race for the Ninja Karts while Mitchell gold, Robbie Armit and Jay Carruthers all gave great accounts of themselves while battling with the top UK youngsters.

The second race which was run on Sunday was done so in damp conditions and saw our drivers struggle to get through the field and it was regular Lochgelly visitor Aaron Ward, from Northern Ireland, who claimed a great win to supplement his third place from the first race on a great weekend of Ninja Kart action.

More of the youngsters were also in Ninja Kart action at Scotland’s most northerly track at Crimond Raceway this past weekend.

An on-form Katie Armit scored wins in the first two races on Saturday while Bailey Millar claimed the final heat win of the day. Millar continued his great form on the Sunday as he claimed his second victory of the weekend while Scott Allaradyce took the final win of the weekend.

Stock Car action returns to HRP Lochgelly Raceway this Saturday July 4th as the CC Rods compete for their Scottish Championship, the Superstox, Ministox, 2.0 Hot Rods and 1300 Stock Cars will also be in action with a mammoth fifteen race programme getting underway at 6pm this Saturday.