IT was another fine Saturday night of Stock Car action at Lochgelly Raceway on Saturday as we held another 15 race event featuring the 1300 Stock Cars, Superstox, CC Rods, 2.0 Hot Rods and Junior Production Stock Cars, writes our Raceway writer Kevin McQueen.

The Superstox were in action for the first of two successive meetings with 15 cars taking to the track, with season debut’s for Jack Turbitt and National Points Champion David Frame.

On a damp track, the opening heat saw no shortage of action with Kenny McKenzie being spun around on the back straight before spinning his car around only to be collected by the oncoming Chris Miller putting an end to their races!

It was northern driver Dean Johnstone who made a good start and quickly found the front of the field, and despite the best efforts of European Champion Stuart Gilchrist, managed to hang on for the win with Gilchrist finishing 2nd and David Frame in 3rd.

Heat 2 seen a terrific battle between Gilchrist, Forrest, Frame and Mark Brady throughout the race which allowed Lewis Willacy to break ahead at the front of the field from the blue grade to take the heat win, with those behind chopping and dicing for position.

Bryan Forrest brought his car home in 2nd place with Gilchrist in 3rd. The meeting final seen Bryan Forrest make a terrific start and was almost half a straight ahead of the other red graded drivers within the first 2 laps and was soon out in front with a clear and dry track.

Mark Dews was in good form and sat in 2nd place for the majority of the race, only being chased down by Gilchrist in the last couple of laps.

The 1300 Stock Cars were again out in good numbers in what was there final meeting before the European Championship Weekend, here at Lochgelly Raceway on the 8th and 9th June. With the bumpers going in with each lap, exciting racing was provided in the opening heat which seen Craig Connelly’s engine blow up in spectacular style resulting in an oil slick around the raceway.

Rory Naismith won the opening heat in only his 2nd meeting in the formula ahead of John Whyte, also in his 2nd meeting in the formula and Craig Haxton rounding off the top three. The 2nd heat seen more great racing, with Craig Haxton and Danny Whyte exchanging hits on a lap to lap basis, with Eddie Corr and Stuart Farrell in amongst the action with them as well.

Whilst these drivers were fighting it out for the lower places, the lead car of Rory Naismith built a large gap to finish ahead of Stewart Aitken and John Whyte. The meeting final seen the cars start in a closed grid at the meeting sponsors request. The closed grid starts are a favourite amongst the drivers and spectators alike with action guaranteed.

The opening laps seen Craig Haxton, Sean Naismith, Danny Whyte, Eddie Corr and Stuart Farrell all using the bumper to good avail, but it was Danny Whyte who got the timing to perfection with a hit on the 3 cars in front of him, pushing them wide and coming up the inside to take the lead, with those behind continuing to squabble over the positions. Whyte took the flag ahead of Eddie Corr and Craig Haxton.

The CC Rods were again in action for the latest round in the Colin Wotherspoon Joinery series.

The non contact formula often provides a bit of action, and Saturday night was no different, with a few cars leaving the raceway at the end of the night a little worse for wear, including that of points champion David McFarlane after his car was clipped to send it spinning towards the wall! The opening heat seen the seasons’ top 2 drivers Ian Donaldson and Lee Wotherspoon have a great battle throughout the race, with nothing between them. Nobody was catching Craig Watson though, who was racing from yellow grade after a difficult start to the season. Craig raced to a comfortable race win in the opening heat, with Daniel MacDonald finishing in 2nd and Lee Scott in 3rd.

The 2nd race seen a similar result at the front, but with Lee Wotherspoon and Ian Donaldson completing the top 3. The meeting final saw another titanic race with Wotherspoon and Donaldson, with Donaldson leading the way for the majority after a mistake from Wotherspoon allowed him through. However, with the finish line in sight, the engine on the Ian Donaldson car decided that it had had enough and went up in a cloud of smoke.

Lee Wotherspoon took evasive action and took to the infield to overtake the Donaldson car to take the race win. Donaldson trickled home to 2nd place, with Ian Hotchkies completing the top three.

The 2.0 Hot Rods were racing for the final time ahead of the European Championship weekend on the 8th and 9th of June, which will see BTCC star Aiden Moffat join the grid. In the greasy conditions, it was Jim Pitcaithly who fared best to take the opening race victory ahead of Brian Wilson and Andrew Denholm.

Brian Wilson was back to his best though for the remainder of the meeting as he scored a heat and final double win, which will secure his position in the European Championship!

The Junior Productions seen there best turnout of the season, with Ministox driver Jamie Stewart joining in for his first outing in the formula. Koddi Wright took the opening race win ahead of Amy Devine in what was her best meeting to date in the formula. Heat 2 saw Jamie Stewart take the win with Devine in 2nd place and Harvey Sneddon in third.

The meeting final seen Amy Devine open up a good lead and looked to be heading towards a victory, but got caught up with a back marker as she looked to overtake, dropping her back the field and allowing the pack behind to overtake. Jamie Stewart took the race win ahead of Harvey Sneddon and Jensen Bell.

We are back in action on Friday May 31 with a four formula line up featuring the Superstox, Stock Rods, Ministox and ProStocks! Join us then!