THE weather was dull and cloudy for most of the time at the Cowdenbeath Racewall stock car meeting on Saturday night although a short heavy drizzle towards the end of the meeting made life difficult especially for the 1300 Saloon drivers who struggled to find grip. However Peter Low managed to do so better than the rest and romped away to an easy win.

When the Classic Hot Rods took to the track they lined up in their grid observing a minutes silence in memory of Dougie Farrer, one of the hot rod drivers of the 70s and 80s who recently passed away.

There was controversy at the end of the Classic Hot Rod Final when Keith Chesher was disqualified for a technical infringement thus handing the win to Jock Campbell.

When the leading duo in the BriSCA Formula II final tangled Robbie Dawson capitalised on the situation to go through to win.

The Ministox were dominated by Mika Millar who won all three races and picked up the Turner trophy in the process.

Freya Lovett managed to roll her Micro F2 in one of the heats but undeterred was back out for her next race whilst there was a warm welcome to Aaron Terpstra who brought his car over from the Netherlands to race.

Missing from the BriSCA Formula IIs were Gordon Moodie and Chris Burgoyne who were racing over in Venray in Holland. Local drivers in action were Kieran Howie (Dunfermline), Paul and Craig Reid (Cowdenbeath) and Ian Thompson (Kennoway).

The opening heat saw P. Reid go through for a comfortable win over Stevie Forster and Thompson with Howie in tenth place. Daniel Scrimgeour led for most of heat two but lost out during the closing stages as Thompson came through to overtake him on the last lap whilst Robbie Dawson was third with P. Reid seventh and Howie ninth.

No one could have expected the twist there was at the end of the race and it had the fans out of their seats. It had started to drizzle when the race began coating the track as it did so. Within a couple of laps P. Reid had caught and passed his brother Craig to lead and once there began to ease away from the pack. Thompson made short work of getting ahead of the cars ahead to move into second place although he had Euan Millar and Dawson in close order. With around five laps to go, Thompson had moved within striking distance of P. Reid but the pair tangled down the straight resulting in both cars stopping. Dawson capitalised on this to lead from Millar and Craig Wallace and pulled away to win but there was further drama when Millar spun on the last corner allowing Wallace through into second with a despondent Millar bringing his car home in third spot with Howie in ninth and a recovering P. Reid tenth.

P. Reid won the Grand National at a canter from Forster and Wallace with Dawson in fifth, Howie eighth and C. Reid in ninth place.

The 1300 Saloons were in fine form with a season-best 18 cars at the track including Ministox graduate Bryan Lindsay and ex-Prostock driver Andrew Webster whilst Gordon Hendry had bought the ex- Milne car. Derek Russell was using Colin Bruce’s car and Craig Warner was in the hire car. Local drivers on the grid included Lee Wilson (Comrie), Jeff Cosans (Dunfermline), Michael Byers (Methil), James Ellis (Cowdenbeath), Alan Robertson (Glenrothes), Gordon Myers (Dunfermline). Dale Burt (Lochgelly) and Arron Hastie (Ceres)

The first heat was hectic and included a pileup featuring a head on between Myers and Burt. Fraser Clark dodged the chaos to win from Ellis and Wilson with Robertson in eighth place. Despite the heavy action nearly all the cars appeared for heat two which saw Lindsay take the victory from Ellis and Hastie with Wilson in eighth.

The final was a slippery affair with many drivers on the wrong set of tyres for the greasy track. Peter Low managed to find grip where others couldn’t and was well clear when the yellows appeared with around four laps to go for Hendry who had been caught up in a shunt. However Low was able to drive away to win the Turner Trophy from Lindsay and Hastie with Byers fifth and ahead of Ellis with Burt eighth and Wilson ninth.

The Ministox numbers were slightly lower than usual but did include Michael Gordon, Ross Lawrence, Jamie Sangster and Jamie Dawson from Crimond Raceway. Local drivers included Jay Paterson (Saline), Scott Allardyce (Anstruther) and Michael Mitchell (Lochgelly).

Mika Millar who had moved through from the blue grade to take an early lead and was still there when the flag dropped and winning from Declan Honeyman, Sean Naismith and Mitchell. Although Dawson led for longer in heat two he was soon forced wide by Millar who romped to another victory from Allardyce and Naismith with Mitchell sixth.

The final saw Jay Paterson relieve Dawson of the lead early on although Millar had moved past him by half distance. Paterson slowed and retired as Naismith and Michael Mitchell set about catching Millar. However Millar had built up a useful lead and their efforts proved to be in vein as he went through to win and pick up the Turner Trophy, from Naismith and Mitchell with Allardyce sixth.

The Classic Hot Rod entry was swelled by Adrian and Gavin Taber from Diss in Norfolk whilst the local drivers were Keith Chesher (Dunfermline) and John McFarlane (Dunfermline).

Heat one saw Graeme Callender lead the field but was soon forced into retirement with engine trouble. This left G. Taber in the lead in front of a train of five cars. Despite some very close dicing, he was able to hold on to win from Kenny Purdie, Brett Sneddon and Chesher with McFarlane in ninth place. Heat two was dominated by Chesher who, once he began to lead never looked back and won by a sizeable distance from Purdie and G. Taber with McFarlane picking up eighth.

The Joan Purdie Memorial final was a race of attrition with less than half of the starters finishing the race. Chesher had moved into the lead early on and as the laps dwindled had Jock Campbell chasing with Purdie appearing in third. With three laps to go, the race was suspended after Sneddon and G. Taber had a coming together at the turnstile bend and Sneddon was collected by John Watkins. Chesher led the cars away and went through to win but was disqualified for a broken exhaust, promoting Campbell into first place, Purdie into second and A. Taber into third whilst McFarlane was the only other recorded finisher in fourth.

There was 26 Micro F2s at the track including Aaron Terpstra from the Netherlands with local drivers Connor St. Aubyn (Glenrothes), Nicole Allardyce (Anstruther) and Lennon Cuthill (Glenrothes.)

Cuthill led heat one by quite a distance when the yellows were called for Kyle Rogerson who was in the wall on the pit bend. David Philp made use of the yellow flag and took over the lead to win from Joelan Maynard and Cuthill in third. Heat two was suspended when Allardyce stopped on the entry to the turnstile bend. Philp was already in the lead at this point and recorded another victory from Ethan Jack Gemmell in second and Ross McLaughlin in third. Freya Lovett rolled her car as she crossed the line but still managed to finish in the top 10 places. The third heat saw a couple of stoppages, one of them claiming double winner Philp. These stoppages helped Maynard to get to the front and win, from Alfie Joynson and Todd Anderson.

Next Saturday night sees the annual visit from the Heritage F2 Stock Cars with their Scottish Championship up for grabs. The Hot Saloons will make their first visit from Crimond Raceway whilst the BriSCA F2 Stock Cars, Saloon Stock Cars and National Hot Rods will be racing for their Turner Trophies. The meeting starts at 6pm with practice available from 3:30pm with the football away from home.

* At King’s Lynn Max Stott won the 2 Litre National Saloon World Final where he led home Willie Skoyles Jnr and Barry Russell (Brechin).

At the Venray Raceway in the Netherlands Ray Lenssen won the Formula II World Cup from Chris Burgoyne (Airth) and Gordon Moodie (Windygates).