THE tiny terrors in the Ninja Karts were out in force on Saturday at Lochgelly Raceway, with 35 kids signed-in to race on the night, including three visiting drivers from England!, writes our Raceway reporter Kevin McQueen.

Before the meeting got underway, a few interviews took place to recognise a few of the drivers that have achieved nationwide success in the formula, before they move onto Ministox after the mid season break. Charlie Hardie and Rachel Kidd were given a lap of honour as well to celebrate their time in the formula.

As is the norm at Lochgelly Raceway, we ran a whites and yellows race first to give those with less experience some valuable track time with a lesser amount of karts on track. The race saw Abbie Carruthers pick up a knock, which resulted in her missing the rest of the meeting.

Declan Dixon took the flag, with Candice Smart finishing in 2nd place, with visiting driver Murray Hall finishing in third. The first main heat of the night saw around 30 karts on track. The racing was fast and with a couple of stoppages along the way.

It was the European Champion Bailey Millar who managed to come from the back of the grid, to take victory ahead of a couple of female superstars, Demi Ritchie and Candice Smart, with Connie Anderson just behind in fourth place. The female drivers in the Ninja Karts continued to show they are just as quick as the boys, with Connie Anderson and Demi Ritchie taking wins in the 2nd and 3rd heats of the evening. Bailey Millar brought his kart home in 2nd place in the 2nd heat of the night, ahead of Kayden Hay, with Kenzie Bell and visitor Calum Gould finishing in 2nd and 3rd in the final race of the night for the formula.

The Junior Productions were in action for the final time in the first half of the season, with 12 cars in action, including Northern Irish driver Jack Morrow in the 924 car.

The opening race of the evening saw a pile up and track blockage in the opening lap, which saw Leona Anderson spun around and clattered a few times.. with the damage putting an end to her evening’s racing! Jensen Bell got out of his car before hanging his head after seeing the damage to the front end of the car!!

Jack Morrow took advantage of the depleted field as he found his feet around the Raceway, taking the opening race with a relatively comfortable heat win with Koddi Wright finishing 2nd and Harvey Sneddon in 3rd. The 2nd race of the night seen John Bremner lead the way for the majority of the race before being overcome by Morrow in the closing stages, with Jensen Bell finishing in third position.

The final race of the night for the youngsters in the Junior Productions went the way of John Bremner, in a race that was riddled by punctures! Jack Morrow and Lennon Grant suffered punctures during the race, and 2nd placed driver Koddi Wright suffered a puncture on the last corner after challenging Bremner for the lead! Jensen Bell brought his car home in 3rd place.

The Stock Rods were sponsored by CM Motors with a tyre up for grabs in the meeting final, with some excellent racing throughout the night. Brett Sneddon made his first outing in over a year, whilst Alan Cuthbert returned to action for the first time in a couple of months after suffering some damage in Ireland a couple of months back.

John Lee Green put up an excellent battle in the opening race as he fended off a pack of drivers behind him for the majority of the race, holding a tight inside line. The drivers behind chopped and changed positions before Siobhan Martin and Gary Dean managed to overcome the John Lee Green car.

Carluke based driver, Gary Nicholls, took the opening race win after breaking clear of the pack in the early stages, with Stewart Paterson (Cowdenbeath) finishing not far behind, with Jock McEwan bringing his car home in third place.

The 2nd heat of the night saw Siobhan Martin get the jump at the start, and was quickly able to overcome some of the quicker blue grade drivers before the rest of the pack caught up. This allowed her to make a clean pass around them without being held up too much, to put a chase on the race leaders.

John Lee Green again, held a solid inside line under immense pressure to keep those behind him at bay as long as he can.

The meeting final saw Gary Nicholls start on pole position after a solid first 2 heats. Gary quickly had Siobhan Martin on his back bumper, who sat there for the majority of the race hoping that Gary would make a mistake. The rest of the pack was right there as well, with the entire grid packed behind the Nicholls car, it provided some intense nail biting action as to what would happen next! Ricky White came from the mid pack and made a move around the outside of the field of cars, which brought him up into contention for the podium. Siobhan Martin saw the progress being made in her rear view mirror by the White car, and opted to try the outside line herself, and after a couple of laps of trying, managed to break clear into the lead, with Ricky White following shortly afterwards. Siobhan took the race win ahead of White, with early leader Nicholls finishing in third position.

The Prostocks were in action for the 2nd week in succession, with around a dozen cars taking to the track. Lee Kopacz took the opening race win, whilst Ian Christie took heat 2, and David Linton winning the meeting final ahead of Kopacz and John Jackson.

The Superstox saw another meeting with excellent racing throughout the night. The opening heat saw the action right from the off, with the likes of Bryan Forrest, Stuart Gilchrist, Dean Johnston and visiting driver, Michael Green, all exchanging some heavy blows right from the off as they tried to break clear of each other.

Whilst the squabble went on throughout the race, Lewis Willacy raced clear for a comfortable heat win, with Chris Miller returning to form and finishing in 2nd place, with Gilchrist eventually getting his car up into 3rd place. Heat 2 was much the same, with the star graded drivers exchanging blows throughout the race, which enabled the lower grade drivers to acquire some breathing space to those behind.

Chris Miller managed to reel in Lewis Willacy on this occasion, taking a race win with Willacy finishing in 2nd place, with Bryan Forrest in 3rd.

The meeting final was again another heavy hitting affair. Lewis Willacy broke clear at the front, with Adam Low behind. Low was doing his utmost to hang onto 2nd place, by making sure those behind had to move him out of the way in order to get through, and that’s what they done! Forrest managed to get through into 2nd place, with Michael Green coming home in 3rd, after a decent battle with Low, who finished in 4th place.

We round off the first half of the season at Lochgelly Raceway this Saturday night, with our annual CARAVAN CARNAGE event taking place, where we round off the evening with the novelty event of destroying caravans!

Join us from 5.30pm where we have a five formula line up of Stock Car action ahead of our main event!