The first of the Championship weekends is hosted at the Cowdenbeath Racewall over Saturday and Sunday and with Championships at stake the drivers will not be giving any quarter nor will they be expecting any.

There will be plenty of shunts and spills with a few drivers experiencing the delight of winning a championship and the glory that goes with it!

On Saturday evening the BriSCA F2 Stock Cars and Saloon Stock Cars battle it out for their Scottish and National Championships and these finals will see some breathtaking action especially with drivers from Scotland, England and Northern Ireland in action.

The Stock Rods and Ministox will be on Qualifying duty for their ORCi Championships whilst the Jascars and Mascars will make their 2018 Scottish visit, and will be qualifying for their Scottish Championships.

The BriSCA F2 Stock Cars will contest their 2018 Scottish Champion on the Saturday evening and if it is anything like last years race then the fans are in for a treat. The inaugural running in 1981 at Newtongrange, and was won by Bill Batten.

Since then, the championship has been run 37 times at 3 different tracks, bringing 26 different winners. At the time of writing, the only two previous winners set to be on the grid are Gordon Moodie, and the defending champion, Chris Burgoyne. Moodie has won the Scottish Championship eight times and is first and only driver to successfully defend the title whilst Burgoyne has three wins to his credit. More importantly the winner gets automatic entry into the prestigious National Series Shoot Out, which will be defended by Moodie where the winner races under the silver roof. Burgoyne was injured whilst defending his British Championship at Bristol and had to sit out the remainder of the season.

10 of those 26 winners have come from South of the Border, and there is set to be a large entry from England in 2018. Ben Fund and Gala Champion Luke Wrench will head the challenge. Wrench has already proved that he can be quick at the Racewall by taking the feature final on the 24th of March. Matt Stoneman, Colin Gregg and John Broatch have also been visitors to the Racewall this year, and their advanced track knowledge could come in handy whilst Kelvyn Marshall, Aaron Vaight and Ant Riley will be making their first Racewall visits since the Shootout round last season.

There is yet to be an Irish winner of the Scottish Championship but there has often been an Irish presence at the meetings. This season will be no different with Sean McFerran, Bradley McKinstry and Graham Fegan all set to journey across the Irish sea for a chance at taking the Saltire home.

The home entry is set to be one of the strongest yet with British Champion Chris Burgoyne defending his crown. He will face stiff opposition from the likes of Gordon Moodie and Craig Wallace who were on the podium in 2017 whilst John Hogg, Euan Millar, Steven Burgoyne and Robbie Dawson should not be discounted. Paul Reid, Liam Rennie and Adam Blacklock will all have been downgraded for this meeting so it would not be a surprise to see them break away from the pack and take victory.

On Sunday the World Championship qualifying round is going to be full of action and a strong heat and final will almost certainly see a driver heading onto the back of a semi-final grid. There might not be as many cars racing on the Sunday but the stakes are every bit as high so expect fireworks.

The Saloon Stock Cars will contest their 2018 National Championship at the Racewall, for the first time since 2012. Since the inaugural running at Wisbech in 1977, the National Championship has been run 38 times at 10 different venues and won by 26 different drivers. There have been only 4 Scottish winners of the event – can the Scots change that statistic this weekend?

The Scottish entry is likely to be headed up by 2009 champion Luke Grief who at time of writing, is the current Racewall track championship leader, and has not featured outside of the top two at any Racewall meeting so far this year.

Ross Watters has proven that he can challenge for top honours in major championships, and he is due a change in luck in majors at the Racewall having been forced to sit the 2017 World Championship out after suffering a driveshaft failure on the rolling lap. Former UK Superbowl Champions Paul Honeyman and Ian McLaughlin have also been on the pace so far this year, and could take the win should they get a break from the pack.

The entry from South of the Border is once again set to be of top quality with ORCi and World of Shale champion Michael Allard spearheading the English attack. Allard is perhaps best known for taking second places in major championships, and did take second position in the 2017 World Championship and also the 2018 English Championship at St Day earlier on this year. Cole Atkins signalled his presence on the Saloon scene when he took the Raymond Gunn Tribute race at Skegness at the UK Speedweekend in 2017, and has been a force to be reckoned with ever since. He was well placed in the results when he last visited the Racewall at the 2017 UK Superbowl.

There is once again set to be interest from Northern Ireland with brothers Anthony and Kieran McIvor leading their charge. Anthony has won the Irish closed and Irish Points Championships for several years on the trot now whilst Kieran took victory in the Irish Open Championship at Nutts Corner in April ahead of a very high class field. Both have shown good Racewall pace in the past and you wouldn’t put it past them to be near the front at the end of the race.

The drivers will race in a two heat consolation final format so it is imperative that the drivers score well in their heats rather that to have to hope for a place in the consolation heart. The final will be a no quarters asked for or given and more than one driver will see his hopes of success disappear after a bout of bumper work!

On Saturday night the ORCi Stock Rod drivers will contest a series of qualifying races and the finishing order points will determine their starting position for the final on Sunday afternoon. There is expected to be a big turnout of cars with ten drivers booked in from Northern Ireland led by the World Champion Stephen McCready. Ross Montgomery and, Adam Daniels will head up from the south of England.

The home challenge is likely to be led by Michael Bethune, Cameron Doak and Leon Stewart and they could well be the ones that the others have to watch. The defending champion is Jim Pitcaithly but it is not known whether he will race.

The driver who gains pole position will be presented with a tyre courtesy of KG Stewart Plant Hire whilst Sunday’s Championship is sponsored by Gilmore Engineering.

If the racing is half as good as the last meeting then we are in for a spectacular race.

The ORCi Ministox drivers are also contesting a series of qualifying heats on Saturday night where the points they score will determine their final grid on the Sunday afternoon. The defending champion is Steven Burgoyne but he has since moved to another formula.

The Scottish challenge will be spearheaded by Declan Honeyman and Michael Mitchell but Taylor Borthwick could spring a surprise after not too good a start to the season. The challenge from down south is likely to be led by Charlie Santry, Abbie McGuinness and Gemma Robbins and it has all the makings of a cracking race.

Recently the Ministox drivers have stolen the show from the other formula and this weekend meeting could see a similar story.

Heading up from England to make it a very busy weekends racing are the Mascars and Jascars which are scaled down versions of NASCARs and they will be racing for their Scottish Championship on Sunday afternoon.

The meeting is scheduled to start at 4pm on Saturday and 1pm on the Sunday.