IT was a meeting of two halves at the stock car meeting at the Cowdenbeath Racewall, on Saturday night, where the first-half was run in dry conditions and then the remainder in heavy driving rain. In fact the weather was that bad that two of the Micro F2 races were cancelled, writes our Racewall reporter Jim Turner.

The feature races were for the Formula II was the Champion of Champions final and the 9th round of the National Series where Gordon Moodie started off the meeting with a 67 point advantage.

It turned out to be quite a night with Gregor Turner winning three Formula II races, including the Champion of Champions final. John Hogg won the meeting final with Euan Millar winning the track points championship by 17 points.

In deplorable conditions Ryan Borthwick dominated the Ministox Civic Week Cup winning the race by a big margin but before that Michael Mitchell had won both the heats. There was a three car spectacular crash in the Micro F2s when one of the drivers got out of shape and when he headed across the track, he took out two others with him! Luckily all the drivers were alright.

Formula II stalwart Jimmy Moodie was inducted into the Scottish Legends hall of fame.

There was a good turnout of Formula II drivers to the track including National Series drivers, Colin Gregg, Ben Lockwood, Richard Bowyer plus Scottish drivers Adam Blacklock, Chris Burgoyne and Moodie. Bradley McKinstry headed over from Northern Ireland whilst the track points championship was up for grabs with Euan Millar leading Craig Wallace.

Local drivers in action included Gregor Turner (Dunfermline), Kieran Howie (Dunfermline), Paul and Craig Reid (Cowdenbeath), Ian Thompson (Kennoway) and Gordon Moodie (Windygates).

The opening race of the night was the Champion of Champions final, a race that is only open to race winners at the Racewall.

Fifteen drivers took to the track including C. Burgoyne, Blacklock and Moodie. When the race started P. Reid made the better of start to lead Turner away from the line but he drifted wide bounced off the wall allowing the latter through into the lead.

The defending Champion Thompson soon appeared in second place whilst C. Burgoyne was running ahead of Moodie with both making up places quickly. Howie retired whilst C. Burgoyne closed up on Thompson.

Turner was enjoying a healthy lead but when C. Burgoyne moved into second the gap began to close. However, the laps ran out before he did so and Turner went through to win the title with Thompson having to settle for third and Moodie in ninth place.

The first heat saw all cars appear on the track with C. Reid leading the field away but within a couple of laps Turner was leading.

P. Reid moved into second but then lost out to Robbie Dawson and whilst the latter closed the gap, Turner went on to pick up his second win of the night. Dawson ended up in second with Millar in third place whilst C. Burgoyne was the best of the National Series runners coming home in fifth and just ahead of Moodie and Blacklock.

The rain had started in earnest as the drivers appeared for heat two and seemed to get heavier as the race progressed. Whilst C. Reid was again the early leader he quickly lost the lead as Howie and Turner swept, or splashed, their way through into the lead positions. P. Reid moved into third but soon had John Hogg closing the gap. Howie was making good progress although he couldn’t shake off Turner as they lapped the slower drivers. However Howie got off line lapping a group of cars allowing Turner into the lead and he went on to win from Dawson and Steven Burgoyne with Moodie sixth and ahead of C. Burgoyne and Blacklock with C. Reid in tenth place.

It was still raining heavily when the cars lined up for their final with Bowyer failing to start. C. Reid led the cars away but within a couple of lap P. Reid was leading with Hogg leading the red grade drivers’ chase.

Despite the dreadful conditions Hogg was soon through into the lead and pulling away from the field. However when Colin Forbes retired on the main straight the race was suspended and the cars lined up in single file behind Hogg. On the restart Hogg quickly pulled away from the field but Dawson tangled with another car and spun and then did likewise a couple of laps later. In the end Hogg won from C. Burgoyne and Moodie with Blacklock sixth, P Reid eighth and Howie in tenth place.

McKinstry then won the Grand National from Millar, Wallace and P. Reid with Moodie sixth and ahead of Blacklock with Hogg ninth and Gregg tenth.

There was a good turnout of Ministox drivers including Sam Carter up from the south west of England whilst the local drivers were Jay Paterson (Saline), Scott Allardyce (Anstruther), Mitch Gold (Leven), Jamie Stewart (Glenrothes) and Michael Mitchell (Lochgelly).

The first heat was led for a good part by Gold but when Mitchell hit the front he went through to win albeit, narrowly, from Gold and Sean Naismith with Allardyce sixth. It started to rain when the second ministox race started and the fans cheered every time a car bounced off the wall. In the end Mitchell forced his way to the front and then on to his second win of the night where he led home Declan Honeyman and Ryan Borthwick.

When the final started R. Borthwick went straight into the lead whilst Naismith tired to send the Mitchell car spinning only to spin himself. Gold appeared in second with Declan Honeyman soon in third but he was clipped and spun allowing Taylor Borthwick into third.

At the front R. Borthwick was now well clear but Mitchell and Naismith had another bout of contact as the race entered its closing laps. However this did nothing to stop R. Borthwick who went through for a commanding win to lift the Cowdenbeath Civic Week Cup, presented to him by Steven Haddow, from T. Borthwick and Mitchell with Allardyce fifth..

The Prostock drivers struggled a bit in the conditions with local drivers Josh Heeps (Inverkeithing), Paul Barron (Cowdenbeath), Scott Gordon (Glenrothes) and Ian Christie (Kirkcaldy) in action.

The opening heat saw Heeps going on to record an easy win over Christie and Finlay Davidson with Barron in fifth and Gordon eighth . In heat two it was Robert Hamilton who went on to win from Alexander Hamilton and John Taylor with Heeps fifth and ahead of Barron and Christie with Gordon ninth.

Heeps led the cars away when the final started but once R. Hamilton hit the front he just drove away from the field to win from J. Taylor, Heeps and Christie with Barron seventh and Gordon eighth.

There was another bumper turn out of Micro F2 drivers with local drivers Connor St. Aubyn (Glenrothes), Nicole Allardyce (Anstruther) and Lennon Cuthill (Glenrothes) in action. The Micro F2 field was split into two with each driver getting three races – that is until the rain came and their races were abandoned when track and weather conditions deteriorated..

The first heat was won by Joelan Maynard from Charlie Burgoyne and Callan Walker. Heat two ended with Todd Anderson winning from Ross McLaughlin and David Philp Jnr. Burgoyne then won heat three where he was ahead of Alfie Key and McLaughlin. The fourth heat saw Philp Jnr winning from Maynard and Oliver Heron with St. Aubyn tenth and then the rain came!

Well that is the season over and overall it has been a good one with Scotland ending up with two World Champions - and both Fifers - in Lee McGill and Gordon Moodie.

The next meeting at the Racewall is on January 6th and consists of Van Bangers, Micro Bangers in teams of four and Junior Bangers with a 1.00pm start.

At Barford on Sunday Moodie picked up a third in heat one and then was second in heat two. During the final Moodie brought his car home in third spot and followed that with a fourth in the Grand National.

At the end of the night Moodie now leads Chris Burgoyne by 76 points and with double points on offer at the last meeting at Belle Vue he is the favourite to retain his title.