THE CC Rods took centre stage on Saturday night at Lochgelly Raceway as they competed in their Scottish Championship event, with the Ninja Karts, 2.0 Hot Rods, ProStocks and 1300 Stock Cars all in action, writes our Raceway scribe Kevin McQueen.

The CC Rods saw their Scottish Championship race drawn from a hat as a random grid was generated, with Craig Watson being the driver that pulled the number 1 slot, with Brandon Gourlay starting alongside him.

As the green flag dropped, it was Gourlay who got the slightly better start, although being on the outside, he was unable to get ahead of Craig Watson, with Watson holding onto the lead in the opening laps. Further behind, the pack had closed up with a fantastic battle for the final podium position.

Ian Donaldson managed to find a way through the traffic into third position with a gap then opening up back to 4th place, where Lee Wotherspoon had managed to come through to, after an excellent drive from 14th on the grid. Up front, Watson had pulled away from Gourlay to give some breathing space.

With around 5 laps to go, however, Gourlay had closed the gap back up and was challenging Watson again for the lead, with Donaldson doing his utmost to close the gap to the front two. Ultimately, Watson took the chequered flag to claim the Scottish Championship, only a car length ahead of Brandon Gourlay who’d put up an excellent battle, with Ian Donaldson rounding out the top three.

In the later heats for the evening, Louise Honeyman made her debut in the formula – her first outing in a senior formula since she retired from Ministox around 6 years ago! Louise got away to an excellent start, opening up a good gap to Kyle Hutchison who was in 2nd place.

Louise looked to have the win in the bag, however, over the last few laps, Kyle closed the gap substantially and a mistake from the Honeyman car seen Hutchison move into the lead. Kyle Hutchison claimed the race win, with Honeyman finishing in second and Daniel MacDonald finishing in third spot.

The final race of the evening for the CC Rods saw more excellent racing from the non contact formula. Star graded drivers Lee Wotherspoon and Ian Donaldson raced closely throughout the race as they both navigated their ways throughout the traffic, to finish the race in 2nd and 3rd positions, with Wotherspoon taking 2nd place just ahead of Donaldson. Louise Honeyman capped off her debut meeting with an excellent race win.

The 2.0 Hot Rods saw World Champion Dave Leech make the trip to Scotland to be with us and to show off his gold roof, whilst Cameron Willacy made his debut in the 2.0 Hot rods as well. The opening race of the evening saw former F2 star Marc Fortune claim his first race win in the 2.0 hot rods, a result that he was happy with after a run of bad luck in previous outings, whilst Scott Devine brought his car home in 2nd place ahead of Gary Black in a race that was dominated by the lower graded drivers.

Gerry Hendry failed to finish the race after a bit of a coming together with Kevin Stewart with Kevin running into the back of Gerry going into turn 3 whilst looking to go around the outside. Heat 2 of the night saw Scott Devine at a race win to his collection, with Gerry Hendry picking up a 2nd place and Brian Wilson a 3rd place.

The meeting final saw Scott Devine start from pole position, though it was Brian Wilson who got away best, racing into the lead in the opening laps as a seven car battle behind him grew for 2nd place. In this battle, cars were almost 4 abreast as they came around turn 2, with Gary Black hitting the infield kerb and World Champion Dave Leech powering around the outside into 2nd place, with Kevin Stewart emerging in 3rd position. Pitcaithly was just behind and managed to overcome the Kevin Stewart car despite a coming together on the home straight, before a great battle commenced for 2nd place between Leech and Pitcaithly. Brian Wilson took the meeting final victory, with Pitcaithly finishing 2nd just ahead of World Champion Dave Leech.

The Ninja Karts were in action for the third time in August and had another excellent turn out of karts, including visiting drivers Murray Hall and Addison Sibley. The evening started off with the whites and yellows race for the Ninja Karts, which saw Declan Dixon spin in the early stages of the race.

Leeland Dearn led the race for the majority and looked unlikely to be caught before he clattered the barrier entering the home straight with only a few laps to go. Murray Hall inherited the race lead as a result and duly held on to take the race win, with Declan Dixon finishing 2nd ahead of Addison Sibley in 3rd. The first main heat of the evening saw Declan Dixon make amends for his spin in the whites and yellows race, as he motored to a convincing race win ahead of Toby Tyson and Bailey Millar.

Heat 2 of the evening seen Bailey Millar take the race win in what is his final meeting in the Ninja Kart on home turf before he moves on into the Ministox formula. Declan Dixon finished again in 2nd place, with Kayden Connor rounding out the top three. The final race of the night for the Ninja Karts saw Neave McGill claim her first race win in the Ninja Kart, much to the crowd's delight, with Bailey Millar finishing 2nd and Dougie Kidd in third position.

The ProStocks saw Aaron Lithgow return to action for the first time in a couple of months, whilst Sean Devine and Lesley Paterson made an appearance at Lochgelly Raceway. David Linton took a double heat win, with Scott Tomlinson winning the final on his meeting debut. Aaron Lithgow looked set for a good meeting after finishing in 2nd in the opening race before pulling off in the next race.

The 1300 Stock Cars were in action with Scott Mair back out on track for the 2nd time, and Stock Rod driver Jock McEwan also in action. Fellow stock rod driver Stewart Paterson was also in action in a 1300 Stock Car.

Michael Courts was back in action following his injury that he picked up last weekend, and despite having a swollen ankle still, managed to race his car to an opening race victory, whilst Martin McCafferty and Corey Robertson rounding out the top three. Jock McEwan managed to pick up a race win in the 2nd heat, a result that will potentially have him looking for a 1300 Stock Car on a permanent basis, with Steven Gold and Stuart Farrell finishing in 2nd and 3rd positions respectively.

The meeting final saw Steven Gold take the glory ahead of Farrell and McCafferty after Stewart Paterson got spun out of contention after his car jumped out of gear!

The weekend we have TWO World Championships up for grabs – 36 Superstox and 36 Stock Rods will compete for their respective World Championships at Lochgelly Raceway, whilst the Ministox will also be racing for their National Championship, with the visiting Oval Track Legends racing for their European Championship.

In addition to the headline events, the Old Skool Superstox will be with us for the first time, with around 12 retro style Superstox making the trip to Scotland as they look to put on a few demonstration races throughout the two days of action.

The Sunday morning will also see the Legends Day event take place, with around 50 of the sports legends descend upon the raceway as they look to share their stories and relive their past times.

Ensure you join us on Saturday 31st and Sunday 1st September for 2 excellent days of racing!