THE stock car season may be over at the Cowdenbeath Racewall, but there was still one major title to decide and that drew to a close at the Bradford Odsal Stadium, on Saturday, writes our Racewall scribe Jim Turner.

Bradford is a shale track and is formed around the rugby league pitch and is probably the longest oval track in Britain.

It is there that both the Formula 1 and Formula 2 drivers congregate to decide which driver will race with the silver roof in the 2024 season, and therefore be the winner of the National Series.

Whilst the Formula 1 title was all but decided it was the Formula 2 one that was far from over, with technically eight drivers in with a chance of winning, although realistically only the top four had a chance to do so.

To qualify for the National Series the top point scoring drivers are invited to contest a series of rounds on both tarmac and shale tracks. However, this series involves a lot of travelling over a period from mid-September to November.

At the weekend, Kilsyth’s Liam Rennie was leading the points. Rennie had just sold his tarmac car so was unable to participate, but Windygates’ World Champion, Gordon Moodie, and Falkirk’s Chris Burgoyne, both strong Racewall drivers, did.

Originally the driver who accumulated the most points over the season raced with the silver roof and in that time both Rob Speak and Moodie had done so on 11 occasions. Since the National Points were introduced in 2017 Moodie has won it twice, Luke Wrench once, with the defending holder, Charlie Guinchard, hoping to retain the honour.

There were seven rounds this year starting off at Crimond on September 16, and then down to the Racewall the following day. Since then, the drivers have raced on shale at Mildenhall, tarmac at Taunton, back to shale, at Northampton, then at Skegness last weekend on tarmac.

The lead early after the opening meeting, was led by Moodie, but after Cowdenbeath and Mildenhall, it rested in the hands of Burgoyne. Moodie won his 500th meeting final when he won at Taunton, to propel him back into the lead, but next time out Burgoyne was back ahead.

After a hectic Skegness meeting, it was Guinchard who came out on top and going into the last round, at Bradford, he was some three points clear of Moodie, with Burgoyne a further five points behind, whilst Wrench was a further six points back.

It was a bright Saturday night at Bradford, and Kyle Taylor won the opening heat from David Polley, with Moodie third. Burgoyne was in heat two, which was suspended after a two-car shunt. Jack Witts took the lead late on to win from Charlie England, with Guinchard third, but Burgoyne wasn't classified finishing the race with a puncture.

The ‘consolation’ was suspended after Dean Rogers rolled right in front of the starter. There was another suspension before Burgoyne went through to win from Josh Wilson, with Dan Roots third.

The final was tense, with Burgoyne an early spinner. Guinchard was running ahead of Moodie, but was caught up with a lower grade driver as the yellows appeared.

On the re-start Guinchard was running ahead of Moodie, and whilst Witts went through to win from Guinchard and Micky Brennan, with Moodie fourth and Burgoyne seventh.

With one race remaining Guinchard had a lead of 11 points. The destiny of the Formula II National Series came down to the Grand National, with Guinchard starting the last race with a substantial lead. At the start Guinchard sent Moodie crashing into the fence and as a result the race was stopped, with Moodie needing assistance out of his car. In the end Michael Lund won from Burgoyne and Witts, with Guinchard winning the National Series.

The Scottish drivers can look back on an exciting season where they have been to the fore in the championships.

On the domestic scene Berwick’s John Hogg won the track points for the first time and ended the season by winning the James Clarke Cochrane Memorial Trophy. The Jim Clark Trophy was won by Cowdenbeath’s Paul Reid.

One driver who will look back on the season with fondness is newcomer Reece McIntosh, who hails from Glenrothes, who in a spell of two weeks won the Champion of Champions and then the white/yellow series final.

However, the other newcomers in the Formula 2s were Falkirk’s Lewis Burgoyne, and Kirkcaldy’s Ryan McGill, both ended up in the blue grade. The other new faces were Cuparmuir’s Leon Murphy, and St Boswells’ Cameron McDonald and they only had a couple of outings. Emma Mellis and Mika Millar both chalked up their first wins from the red grade.

On the National scene Moodie proved to be the one to beat and at the first ever World F2 Final, held at Nutts Corner, he went on to win his fourth World title and then successfully defended the Irish Open title the following day.

Earlier he had won the British and Scottish Championships at the Racewall and then the UK Championship at Skegness.

Next year the World Final is being staged at Taunton and after his performance in the National Series he is going to be one of the drivers they all have to catch, especially of he is near the front of the grid.