THE 2 Litre Saloon World Final was the feature race at Cowdenbeath Racewall on Saturday night and whilst Diggy Smith led the race from start to finish it was not a runaway win, writes our Racewall reporter Jim Turner.

Not only did he have to fend off a few challenges but he had to combat changing weather as well.

There were some multi-car shunts in all their races whilst Paul Honeyman and Ryan Wadling had to be assisted out of their cars after taking heavy knocks.

On Sunday Smith appeared with the gold roof but it was to be Marc Honeyman’s day as he went on to win the Raymond Gunn Memorial Trophy. The saloon drivers were in great form over the weekend with plenty of exciting racing.

All told on Saturday there were 60 Saloon Stock Cars at the track with Graeme Shevill and Adam O’Dell posting the quickest times in practice. However, the practice was held in dry conditions but afterwards the drivers had to combat a wet and greasy track. The drivers took their cars onto the grid where the fans could meet the drivers and get autographs.

The first Saloon race of the night gridded 28 cars and as expected there was no shortage of action with a few drivers seeing their chances of World Final success disappear.

Fifers Eck Cunningham, Raymond Dick and Andrew Mathieson were on the grid for the last chance qualifying race with Paul Honeyman leading the field away but within a lap the race was stopped after a shunt had left Robin Copland’s car stranded. P. Honeyman was again the first to show but was caught and overtaken by Ryan Santry.

Stuart Shevill Jnr was quickly on the move and he was soon making up ground quickly going through to win from Santry, P. Honeyman, Graeme Anderson, A Mathieson and Scott Greenslade who all took their places on the back of the World Final grid but Cunningham and Dick failed to finish in the results.

The cars then lined up on the grid for their Gilmore Engineering/Motorsport with Attitude World Championship Final. Fifers Ross Watters. Kyle Irvine and Euan Mathieson had been seeded onto the grid and they were joined by those who had qualified through the last chance qualifying heat. A typical Cowdenbeath roar greeted the sound of “Drivers start your engines” as the cars set off on their parade lap. Smith made the better of the starts with Barry Russell slotting in behind and his early bid for the lead saw the Smith car bounce off the wall, Irvine was caught up in a spin and retired with the defending World Champion, Max Stott, another early casualty.

Watters was making up ground but so too was Shevill Jnr who quickly got into the top ten. Cars were dropping out but Smith was clear of Russell and starting to lap back markers.

Then on lap 12 the race complex changed after P. Honeyman crashed heavily into the wall and was then picked up by the pack and needed assistance out of his car. Not only did Smith have the field line up behind him but it started to rain- heavily! The restart didn’t last long and when Brad Compton-Sage’s car shed a wheel the race was again suspended. The field again lined up behind Smith and this time Russell made another heavy challenge which Smith managed to survive. Graeme Shevill moved into third with Ian McLaughlin coming through into fourth. Smith then held on to go through to win the World Championship receiving a Cowdenbeath roar as he crossed the line to win a title he last held in 2000, Russell was a close second with Watters in third spot.

There was a healthy turn out of Formula II drivers with Stevie Forster and Alex Gault both returning whilst there were visitors from England and Northern Ireland. Local drivers were Paul and Craig Reid (Cowdenbeath) and Kieran Howie (Dunfermline).

Liam Rennie won the opening heat from Henry King and Garry Sime. It was a wet heat two with Rennie again winning from Robbie Dawson and Aaron Vaight with P. Reid fourth and Kieran Howie seventh. Steven Burgoyne then won heat three from Craig Wallace, Vaight and P. Reid.

Gault led the cars away for the Geo Mac 100 Memorial Trophy Final but Rennie was making short work of working his way through the field and he went on to win from Euan Millar and Sime with Howie in seventh..

The MASCAR heats were won by Mark Carnwell but the final went to Nick Spicer who led home Carnwell and Chris Watkiss. The JASCAR heats were won by Alfie Gendell and Joe Wood with Gendell winning the final from Aloucious Millard and Lara Spicer.

On Sunday a few of the Saloon drivers were posted missing but still the action flowed right from the start. Chris Burgoyne was racing Graeme Shevill’s Saloon as well as his Formula II.

Watters won the opening heat from Billy Smith and McLaughlin whilst heat two went to Marc Honeyman who was ahead of Cunningham and Russell. Heat three ended with a win for Willie Mitchell who led home Graeme Anderson, Ryan Santry and Watters.

The Raymond Gunn Memorial race turned out to be a cracker with an early stoppage after quite a few cars had spun. However, it was M. Honeyman who dominated proceedings leading for nearly all the race and in the end he was clear of Watters and Deane Mayes.

In the Formula IIs the cars raced in an all in format with Liam Rennie winning heat one from Steven Burgoyne and Euan Millar with P. Reid fifth. Heat two saw Robbie Dawson win from Millar and Aaron Vaight. Howie led the Chapman Trophy Final but spun handing the lead to Vaight. However, towards the end S. Burgoyne moved through into the lead going through to win Vaight and Adam Blacklock. Millar went on to win the Grand National from Vaight and Blacklock with Howie seventh.

There was a good turnout of 1300 Saloons including Jeff Cosans (Rosyth), Kyle Hegg (Glenrothes), Dave Bowman (Anstruther), Scott and Declan Lindsell (Cowdenbeath), Dale Robertson (Glenrothes), Gordon Myers (Dunfermline), Dave Bowman (Anstruther), James Ellis (Cowdenbeath), Connor Whyte (Cowdenbeath), Callum Sturrock (Saline), Callum McIvor (Inverkeithing) and Arron Hastie (Ceres).

Dale Robertson won heat one from D. Lindsell and Ellis with McIvor fifth, S. Lindsell seventh and he led home Hegg, Whyte and Myers. Heat two saw Hastie go through for an easy win from Fraser Clark, Hegg, Sturrock and McIvor with Myers eighth and Whyte ninth.

Clark went on to win the Turner Trophy final from Hegg and D. Lindsell, Sturrock, S. Lindsell, Bowman and Hastie with Whyte ninth.

Dean McGill (East Wemyss) was having a run in a MASCAR with heat wins going to Mark Carnwell and Chris Watkiss but in an exciting Scottish Championship, Nick Spicer got ahead of Steve Stanford to win. McGill’s only finish came during the opening heat where he ended up in fourth place.

Connor Forster and Lara Spicer won the JASCAR heats with Joe Wood winning the Scottish Championship from Wood and Spicer.

This Saturday the BriSCA Heritage Formula II drivers race for their British Championship, the Stock Rods for their Gordon Ross Shield, the Formula IIs and the National Hot Rods race for their Turner trophies, there will also be action from the Prostock Basics. The meeting starts at 6.00pm

* Over in Venray, in the Netherlands, Gordon Moodie (Windygates) won the Formula II World Cup.