ON a warm and sunny Saturday evening the stock car drivers were in good form at the Cowdenbeath Racewall enjoying racing on a dry and fast track, mind you later on there was a slight coating of oil which made the bends a bit tricky, writes Racewall reporter Jim Turner.

There were good fields of cars in both the Formula IIs and Prostock Basics, with the latter formula taking the top billing when they raced for their Scottish Championship.

There were new faces in the Prostock Basics with Taylor Osborne, John Downs and Kev Bell whilst in the Prostocks John Borthwick and Grant Barker were both making their debuts.

Triple Formula II World Champion Gordon Moodie was having his first outing since winning the 'World' at Buxton and he made it a winning one when he came out on top in the opening heat.

There was a field of 20 drivers for the Prostock Basics Scottish Championship with a good smattering of Fife drivers amongst them which included Megan Wilson (Comrie), Graeme Dignan (Leven), David van Dieken (Leven), Tiffany Mills (Cowdenbeath), John Downs (Dunfermline), Kev Bell (Glenrothes), Declan Lindsell (Cowdenbeath), Dean Whiteley (Glenrothes), Martin Loggie (Methil), Dougie Anderson (Cowdenbeath) and Callum Rennie (Kinglassie).

The grid was a public one with Mills drawing pole position and she was to start with Steven Jones alongside with Whiteley and Wilson on row 2 and Lindsell on row 3.

After the grid had been formed the cars began their warm up lap and when the green flag dropped Mills made the better of the starts to lead Whiteley and Lindsell into the turnstile bend. Mills led the field across the line at the end of the opening lap and began to ease away as Whiteley and Lindsell scrapped over second.

Wilson held onto fourth but was losing ground and beginning to be caught by a group of cars led by Joanne Hilditch. However, on lap seven the race was suspended after Nicole Russell was clipped and sent into a spin on the main straight.

The cars lined up single file on the back straight behind Mills and when the race restarted Mills led the field away and again was easing away as Whiteley and Lindsell were again squabbling over second but now had David Sher in close order. Rennie was making up ground but suddenly it was all change as Mills slowed and stopped handing the lead to Whiteley. Lindsell was now under pressure from Sher with Rennie in fourth having hauled himself into contention.

Whiteley went wide and lost ground, dropping to third as Lindsell took over at the front of the pack but now had Sher swarming all over the back of his car, A couple of laps later Sher was ahead of Lindsell with Rennie moving into third as Whiteley slowed and retired.

Lindsell tried to get back ahead but Sher held his line and went through to win an exciting Scottish Championship with Rennie in third. However in post race scrutineering Sher’s car was disqualified handing the win to Lindsell with Rennie promoted to the runners up spot and Wilson to third with Bell sixth, Dignan eighth and van Dieken tenth.

In the heats which followed the first was won by Cameron Archibald, his first ever win, from Rennie, Loggie and Wilson with Dignan sixth and van Dieken tenth. Heat two saw Loggie get the better of Russell to go through to win with Jack Robertson in third spot and he was ahead of Rennie, Lindsell and Dignan with Wilson eighth.

Amongst the Formula IIs in action were World Champion Gordon Moodie whilst the in-form Steven Burgoyne, who is moving up to Superstar at the beginning of October, was looking to claim yet another final win. Back in action was Antony McAuliffe and Steven McClymont whilst Colin Stewart was down from Crimond for the second week in succession. Local drivers in action were Gordon Moodie (Windygates) and Paul and Craig Reid (Cowdenbeath) although the Reid’s hit problems and were early retirees.

The opening heat proved to be a race of attrition with 16 drivers starting and only six making it to the finish line. Towards the end of the race Stewart was spun into the pit bend and was collected by Peter Watt. The last lap shoot out saw Moodie secure his first win since the World Final when he made a good restart and was still clear of Adam Blacklock as they crossed the finish line with Chris Burgoyne third. S. Burgoyne then won heat two where he led home Moodie and C. Burgoyne.

Alex Gault led the field away when the final started with McAuliffe slotting into second whilst Kyle Taylor was in third. When Pete Davidson spun in front of the pack he was clipped and the race was suspended. The field lined up behind Gault who led the field away on the restart but the following lap Moodie and McAuliffe tangled and spun, although both restarted. Gault’s lead was diminishing as S. Burgoyne closed in and a few laps later the lead changed hands. Gault was falling into the clutches of A. Blacklock and Stevie Forster. C. Burgoyne retired as Gault was sent side and dropped to fourth. Up front S. Burgoyne was clear and he went through to win from A. Blacklock and Forster with Moodie sixth..

Not too many cars appeared for the Grand National with McAuliffe leading the race from start to finish to win his first ever race although he ended up spinning on the slow down lap. Garry Sime was second with S. Burgoyne third.

The Prostock drivers were in good form with Ian Christie appearing in the ex-Andrew Webster car with Borthwick and Barker making their debuts. Local drivers were Dean McGill (East Wemyss) and Ian Christie (Kirkcaldy).

Ryan Martin led the opening heat from start to finish chalking up an easy win and he was followed home by Craig Murray and Robert Hamilton with Christie fifth and McGill eighth. It looked for a while as if Martin was going to make it double but he hit problems and it was McGill who went through to win from Sean Devine and John Mason with Christie in fifth.

Barker was the leader when the final started from Martin but they swapped places on the next lap. McGill made up a couple of early places and then over the next few laps went through into the lead as the leading duo hit troubles. McGill had built up a lead but then John Jackson began to eat into it and soon both were running in close order. Although Jackson tried to ease his way through into the lead but then McGill began to open up the gap before going through to win his second race of the night leading home Jackson and Mason with Christie again in fifth place.

There were a few more bangers in action than at their last outing when Brian Youngson went through to win heat one from Stevie Allan and Jon Taylor. Heat two turned out to be one of these races with Youngson sending Allan crashing into the pit bend wall resulting in both cars topping on the pit bend. Dayle Brock then led but he got out of shape and bounced off the wall and retired, Scott McConnachie took over the lead but he ended up spinning and it was Taylor who won from Jamie Sangster.

Unfortunately not too many cars made it onto the grid for the final with Youngson going though to win from Taylor and Sangster.

This Saturday the Formula IIs are back along with the 2 Litre Saloons with the drivers having the final of their Whites & Yellow Series. However topping the bill will be the 1300cc Saloons with Fraser Clark defending his Scottish Championship while the ORCi Stock Rod drivers are racing for the Jane Burt Memorial trophy with the meeting starting at 6.00pm as usual.

*At the Hednesford Hills Raceway on Sunday World Champion Gordon Moodie won the Formula II final and recorded his first ever final win at that circuit. Moodie then won the Grand National from a lap handicap although aided by a couple of race suspensions which allowed him to close up onto the tail of the field. By winning the final Moodie has drawn equal with the amount of final wins that Billy Batten recorded during his career. Moodie started his racing career in 1998 and has already chalked up a Scottish Championship win, a World Cup victory in the Netherlands as well as retaining his World Championship win at Buxton earlier this month.