AS the day’s heavy rain finally dissipated; drivers, teams and fans gathered at HRP Lochgelly Raceway for the final stock car event of the 2015 Scottish Stock Car season.

A huge crowd had gathered on the terraces as the 5pm start time approached with a very special race being first on track, writes Les Waller.

It has become traditional for the HRP 1300 Stock Car drivers to loan their cars to wives, partners, mothers, aunts, friends etc, etc, to enable them to take part in a charity ladies race.

This year’s race was run in aid of FORDS Car which is a charity that helps to see injured stock car drivers and officials through tough times and a staggering 31 ladies were scheduled to race against one another.

The race got underway in greasy conditions which made car control very difficult and a couple of early incidents saw the field depleted as the laps wound down but it was Gayle Stevenson who came through to take the win from Mhairi Robertson and Lisa Adams – well done to all ladies involved and a huge pat on the back to the drivers who must have been watching through their hands as their pride and joys were raced all in the name of charity. The current total raised this year stands at £4000 with more money still to be counted – a truly fantastic effort.

Following the chaos of the ladies race, a full format fifteen race programme was scheduled and the CC Rods were first on track as the battle between Ian Donaldson and Johnny Bell for the National Points Championship would be concluded in the final meeting of the year.

The first race of the evening for the low-budget class saw a win for much-improved local driver Brandon Gourlay, from Kirkcaldy, as he held off national points contenders Donaldson and Bell.

The second heat saw Kevin Connor maintain his recent good run of form to take the win ahead of Gourlay, Donaldson and Bell.

The feature final was a fast-paced frenetic race which carried extra importance as it was the Bill and Ciaran Hawkes Memorial Trophy and it saw Connor take full advantage of his white grade starting position to claim a heat and final double ahead of Gourlay who had arguably the best night of his CC Rod Career and Paul Muir in his stunning Ford Puma.

Lochgelly’s own Johnny Bell may not have won any individual battles but he did win the war as he claimed the title of CC Rod National Points Champion 2015!

The 11-16 year olds returned to HRP Lochgelly Raceway for their final racing event in Scotland of 2015 and a decent field of cars arrived to do battle. With arch-nemesis Steven Burgoyne absent, Euan Millar further underlined his dominance of 2015 with a routine win in heat one ahead of Bryan Lindsay and Lochgelly’s Michael Mitchell.

The second heat saw Lindsay reverse the roles of heat one as he claimed an excellent win ahead of Millar and late-season sensation Sean Naismith. The feature final was a fast paced race and Kelty’s Ciaran ‘Spud’ Adams made most of the running as he streaked into a very healthy lead and drove with fantastic craft and maturity to make his yellow 128 machine very hard to catch.

However, Euan Millar was not to be denied and he eventually overhauled the yellow graded Adams to claim a fine heat and final double but all credit must go to Adams who held on for a fantastic runner-up spot ahead of Mitchell. All three drivers then celebrated on the roofs of their cars in a highly emotional ending to the Scottish Ministox season,

The National Bangers were in attendance in Under 3L Front Wheel Drive form and the drivers in attendance did their utmost to entertain the huge crowd in attendance in tricky conditions. Steve Allan enjoyed a very successful day as he stormed to a hat-trick of racing victories before also claiming the runners-up spot in the Demolition Derby as his challenge was ended by winner James Prowse.

The National Hot Rods were back in action after quite a few weeks away from HRP Lochgelly Raceway and a fantastic twelve cars arrived to compete for world championship qualifying points in what was an optimistic sign for the future of the formula in Scotland.

This past Saturday also saw the welcome return of legendary Lochore Hot Rod pilot, Billy Bonnar, after serving a suspension. Jim Cowie made the long trip south worthwhile as he claimed the first win of the night ahead of 2015 points champion Ian Donaldson and Bonnar before Donaldson went on to dominate the other two races with victory in heat two as he bested Paul Yule and John Sibbald and also the feature final with Tam Rutherford and Cowie claiming the other podium spots on what was arguably the best domestic National Hot Rod meeting seen in Scotland for quite some time – well done to the drivers and teams.

Following the charity ladies race; the owners of the cars readied them for battle once more as the regular drivers in Scotland’s top stock car formula would round off their season this past Saturday at HRP Lochgelly Raceway in stunning fashion.

Former UK Stock Rod racer Steven Alexander was in the borrowed Thomas Naismith car and performed admirably in his debut race as he stormed to victory ahead of star duo Fraser Clark and Craig Haxton.

The second race was punctuated by a number of incidents including a coming together for Jason Secker and Marc Hughes plus a huge hit put paid to Fraser Clark’s evening as he had a badly damaged car – the race was won by Eddie Corr with Haxton and Paul Beaton taking the minor places. The feature final was sponsored by Eddie Paterson Video – Eddie has recorded hundreds of events across a twenty plus year career and will be missed by all who know him and have enjoyed his work during his legendary tenure.

The race was as frenetic and fast-paced as those who have seen the 1300s at HRP Lochgelly Raceway this year have come to expect with action all over the track as the bumpers flew in. Heat Two winner Eddie Corr was the one to come through all of the chaos to take his second win of the night ahead of Kirkcaldy’s Lee McGill and Lochgelly’s Euan Mathieson to round off a great season at HRP Lochgelly Raceway.