A DRY late summer’s evening greeted drivers, teams and fans as they gathered at HRP Lochgelly raceway this past Saturday for the latest slice of stock car action presented by Hardie Race Promotions.

Championship fever was well and truly in effect once more at Scotland’s most-modern short oval motorsports facility and it was the turn of the non-contact Stock Rods to take centre stage as they contested their coveted Scottish Championship.

A random draw saw pre-race favourites 2015 National Points Champion, Siobhan Martin, former multi-champion Chris Lattka and former Scottish Champion Jonathan Lattka, line up on the inside of rows two, three and four respectively and it was these three drivers who would decide the fate of the St Andrews roof for the next twelve months as an enthralling battle ensued between three of Scotland’s very best.

While Siobhan Martin maintained her position at the front, Chris Lattka pressured the Glaswegian pilot incessantly and Lattka did make an attempt to overhaul the National Points Champion in the closing stages which actually allowed brother Jonathan through to claim second as Siobhan Martin added her first Scottish title to her national points championship, in what has become a very memorable season for the lady racer.

Two further heats saw Chris Lattka and Pete Thomson claim victories on a night of fantastic and frenetic action in the Stock Rods.

The CC Rods have been one of the success stories of 2015 as numbers and quality of racing have both improved in proportion with one another.

Heat One saw two-time Scottish Champion Ian Taylor claim victory as he fended off the attentions of Lochgelly’s Johnny Bell and East Wemyss’ Craig Watson.

Taylor had to give best to one of his arch-rivals, Stirling’s Stewart Aitken, in heat two as Aitken stormed to victory ahead of Taylor and Ian Donaldson, who has seen a huge upturn in form since changing to a Vauxhall Corsa for 2015.

Lanarkshire’s Donaldson can legitimately claim to have joined the established top three of Taylor, Aitken and Bell as the main prospects for victory in any race and he re-affirmed this status in the feature final as he took an excellent win ahead of Johnny Bell, Aitken and Taylor respectively as the CC Rods once again justified the promotion’s faith in the driver base with another excellent show from the budget class.

The 11-15 year-olds returned in the Ministox as the junior formula made a welcome return to HRP Lochgelly Raceway and although it had been a few weeks since their last appearance the question remained the same – who could stop Euan Millar and Steven Burgoyne.

That answer came quickly as Ross McWilliam made the long trip from the north of Scotland very worthwhile as he claimed victory in heat one ahead of Scotland’s top two of Burgoyne in second and Millar in third!

Millar made no mistakes in heat two as he sliced his way through the field to take the win ahead of an on-form McWilliam and Airth’s Burgoyne.

The meeting final saw these three drivers feature prominently once more as they battled their way through the field and as they contested the win it was Lockerbie’s Millar who once again came out on top as he claimed a heat and final winning double with arch-rival Burgoyne in second and McWilliam rounding off his best set of results at HRP Lochgelly Raceway, with an excellent third.

Cardenden’s Danny Whyte took a fourth and a sixth in the heats with Lochgelly’s Michael Mitchell, taking fifth in heat one, fourth in heat two and a final sixth.

Credit must also go to Saline’s Gary Paterson, who has continued his recent good form with seventh in heat two and eighth in the feature final.

The open-wheel Superstox were back in action and this meeting would be the last in the year-long campaign for the National Points Championship.

Elgin driver Barry Stephen has performed well in 2015 and can now claim the title of Superstox 2015 National Points Champion – well done to Barry!!!

Back to Saturday’s action and Dundee pilot, Lee Livingston, returned to the action with a fine heat one win as he held off an on-form Tony Lattka and Kenny McKenzie.

McKenzie and Livingston would feature prominently in heat two for the wrong reasons as heat one winner Livingston clambered over the top of McKenzie’s car ending up rolling over against the turn two fence – all drivers were absolutely fine in a race that saw Barry Stephen claim yet another win.

The feature final was a fast-paced race which saw Coaltown of Balgonie’s Paul Mackie finally achieve what he had threatened to do on a number of occasions as he stormed to victory in his zetec-powered machine ahead of the now recovered Lee Livingston and Tony Lattka to round off a great day action at HRP Lochgelly Raceway.

The next slice of stock car action at HRP Lochgelly Raceway sees the Rookie Bangers back in action with a world championship wildcard place up for grabs while the HRP 1300 Stock Cars, 2.0 Hot Rods, ProStocks and Ninja Karts provide the support in a busy action-packed programme which gets underway at 5:45pm this Saturday August 29th.