The opening Cowdenbeath Racewall stock car meeting was run on a chilly and damp Saturday night, writes our Racewall reporter, Jim Turner.

There were a few dramas in practice, the most serious being that of Derek Conner, who blew an engine but had another back in for the start to the meeting.

However, in the Formula IIs, it turned out to an all-English affair with both of the heats, the final and then the Grand National going to the visitors. They even dominated the action with Ben Spence rolling his Formula II.

With the Racewall being a solus Formula II meeting, Aaron Vaight, Ben Spence, Ollie Hertzog, Jon Hodgson, Tom Bennett and Dan Roots were welcome visitors. The opening heat consisted of blue and red grade drivers with Ben Spence the first to show and he led until the end fending off the attentions of Ryan McGill to the finish line, with Peter Watt third.

The start to heat two was hectic with Spence clipping the wall and rolling his car. The race was suspended with Spence clambering out unhurt. A depleted field re-started with Vaight finally getting the better of Reece McIntosh to win, with John Hogg third.

Central Fife Times: Aiden McKinnon on way to winning the stock rod final.Aiden McKinnon on way to winning the stock rod final. (Image: Contributed)

Watt was the initial leader when the Final started but couple of laps later Reid was ahead. Jamie Jones led the charge from the red grades and he soon caught and passed Reid. Vaight was making progress and he appeared in second just ahead of Tom Bennett. Jones was clear by this time and went through to win from Vaight and Bennett to make it an English 1-2-3 a rare occurrence.

John Hogg made it a clean sweep when he dominated the Grand National, on a damp track, and winning from Bennett and Vaight with Jones in fourth spot.

There was a good turn out of Saloons, although Holly Glen was a late call off due to illness. Amongst those on the grid were newcomers Nicole Russell, Stuart Adsley, Scott Allardyce, Dylan Chisholm and Jay Carruthers, while Sam Critchley was a visitor from South of the border.

The opening heat was suspended almost right away, after the Allardyce car was spun and collected by the pack. The grid reformed, but after a couple of laps Andrew Mathieson and Adsley tangled suspending the race. Barry Glen led from Graeme Shevill, but with a couple of laps remaining there was a race stoppage with debris on the track. Glen made a good restart going through to win from Stuart Shevill, with Ross Watters third in a close finish.

The track was wet for heat two and it suited Graeme Shevill down to the ground. He simply drove away from the pack to lead home S. Shevill and Tam Rutherford Jnr. The final was literally a hard luck story for white grader Adsley who led until the closing stages, only to see a yellow flag which suspended the race. Adsley went straight into the lead from Chisholm and eased away from the field.

G. Shevill was spun, but quickly re-started only dropping a couple of places. Once the track was clear Adsley led but was then tee-boned going into the pit bend with G. Shevill now leading from Watters and Jordan Cassie and whilst they were in close order, they crossed the line in that order. G. Shevill was presented with a tyre from GTM Garage Services, in Dundee, as sponsorship.

The ORCi Stock Rods were in fine form, with the drivers having their eyes set on their Racewall World Final in September. New faces were Aiden and Keiran McKinnon and Ian Donaldson.

Jamie Dawson ran away with the opening heat, winning from K. McKinnon with Derek Conner just fending off Michael Bethune for third. Dawson went on to win heat two after a race long dice with A. McKinnon, although the latter retired. Cammy Doak came home second with Bethune third.

The final turned out to be a McKinnon brother dual with Keiran leading initially, but lost out to Aiden at half distance. Behind them there was a four-car dice for third with Dawson, Donaldson, Bethune and Conner running nose to tail. On the lap A. McKinnon went through to win, but whilst K. McKinnon was the runner-up, he had Bethune alongside as they charged finish line The winner received a tyre from Alex Hunter after his final win.

Evah Adsley, Lewis McFarlane and Jaxson Watters were the new faces in the Micro F2s.

Oakley Grief came out on top on the opening heat, from Bobbie Smith and Rhys Walker. Smith got in a tangle and stopped heat two. Imogen Summerfield led the cars away on the re-start but Corey Mathers stormed through to win from Grief and Walker.

Summerfield led the third heat, but when Naomi Bain spun, she was collected by Watters and Lana Middler. By this time Mathers was ahead and when the race restarted Mathers went on to win from Grief and John Teddy Foster, with Adsley the driver of the scene.

This Saturday, the Formula II and saloon drivers return to the scene, and will be backed up by the ORCi Ministox and the Prostock Basics, with the usual 6pm start.