THERE was a big turnout of drivers to the GMP Racewall Awards event which was held at the Hill of Beath Ex-Servicemen’s Club on Friday night where the first awards were for the Track Points Championship which has been sponsored by Sibbald training for many years, writes our Racewall reporter Jim Turner.

This year there were a few new names on the roll of honour.

In his second season in Formula IIs Euan Millar, after a battle with Craig Wallace, added the track points title to the Scottish Championship he won earlier in the year.

Graeme Shevill had his best season to date in the 2 Litre National saloons where his late charge saw him come out on top to win the Saloon version whilst earlier he had won the National Championship.

In the ORCi Stock Rods Michael Bethune won a close race with World Champion Lee McGill to win the track points and he too had earlier won the ORCi Championship at the Racewall.

Fraser Clark had dominated the 1300 Saloons where he added the track points to his Scottish Championship win, Callum Campbell won the National Banger category, Paul Barron the Prostock and Dougie Ford the Prostock Basics titles.

In the GMP National Points Championships Cameron Doak was the winner in the ORCi Stock Rods, Fraser Clark in the 1300 Saloons, John Taylor in the Prostocks and Dougie Ford in the Prostock Basics.

There were Special Awards which went to Formula II driver Craig Reid whilst Prostock Basics driver Robert Grant won the Dedication Award.

ORCi Stock Rod driver Cameron Doak ended up with two awards, the first the National Points and the Traveller of the Year. Doak took in meetings in Northern Ireland, the South of England and Barford in the North East of England, as he competed for the National Points Championship.

Nicole Russell won the most improved driver for her performances in the Prostock Basics whilst Callum Campbell ended up with the Track Office Award.

In the 1300 Saloons Fraser Clark won the driver of the year, Lee Wilson was the most improved driver whilst the Unluckiest driver of the Year was Aaron Hastie. Gordon Myers picked up the Never out of the Wall award.

However, the driver who was voted the driver of the year by his fellow competitors was Stock rod driver James Gray. Gray had enjoyed one of his best ever seasons where he won the Scottish Championship and was the runner up in the ORCi Championship.

After the awards ceremony and the superb buffet I caught up with Aaron Hastie, who lives in Ceres, and had just been presented with the Unluckiest Driver award which in essence signified his season's racing – not that he has had a bad year's racing. Aaron works for Pfaudler, in Leven, after a spell at college where he trained as a welder/fabricator.

Aaron commented. “I bought the Jason Secker car at the end of last season and spent the winter re barring the machine, painting it and getting the car sign written for the start to the season.”

“When I took it out for practice I found that the car was much quicker than the machine that I had used the previous year and it handled much better. It seems strange that the handling was so different as both cars were Corsa Bs although Jason’s car was a newer version.”

“My car had been good and I had picked up a few wins so I was quite confident when the Scottish Championship came along. I drew second place on the grid meaning that I started on the outside of the front row. I made a reasonably good start to the race but there was some heavy contact behind which delayed me. I eventually got into second but hit an oil slick along with James Ellis and slid into the wall and out of the race.”

Added Aaron: “I had done quite well in the series of races for the Gold Roof and as a result I was to start on the inside of row two.

"There was a weekend at Crimond and on the Saturday we were using a different gearbox. At the last bend the gears crunched and wrecked the gearbox. We put the old gearbox in for heat two but we were not as quick.

"We had changed things for the Munster race on Sunday but the race was stopped and restarted. I got away well but then the car slowed for some reason and then stopped when the battery gave up.”

“When the final of the Gold Roof series started I was getting pushed by Dale Burt and then struggled to get into second gear. Once I did I picked up places but was shunted wide on the last lap and in the end finished out of the top ten.

“The last weekend of the season was a great advert for the 1300 Saloons. We had spent quite a bit of time helping Gary Paterson get his car ready so mine was slightly neglected. The car had been good in practice but didn’t feel right and in heat one the front wheel fell off.

"I finished in eighth in heat two and qualified for the final. In the Superbowl race I was making up ground until a race suspension. On the restart Jeff Cosans spun me and that was that!

“On the Sunday the main race was the Cock of the North and in both of the heats I was spun. I was going well in the final but when a couple of cars tangled in front of me I took avoiding action only for Michael Bethune to drop oil and I ended up in a pile up.

“The car has been overhauled and now sports a new paint scheme. I hope that the car will go as well as it did last year but that this time I maybe have some luck in the championship races.

"My dad, Brian “Big H” Hastie, Colin “Coco” Thompson, Gary Paterson and our head chef mum Diane are my mechanics whilst I get sponsorship from Tidy Gardens; Wilson Auto Care; Racewall Hospitality; Secker Motorsport; Paul Meldrum Removals; Alasdair Roger Fabrications; EJB and Saltire Fabrications and I thank them warmly".