DESPITE the days of warmth and sunshine in the run-up to Saturday's Cowdenbeath Racewall stock car meeting, the night featured a couple of rain showers making track conditions difficult for the drivers, writes our Racewall reporter, Jack Watson.
It was a night of double wins on the track, with Mark Bartleman winning a heat and Final in the Prostock Basics on his first outing.
There were also heat and Final doubles for Chris Burgoyne in the BriSCA F2 Stock Cars, Tommy Melrose in the Junior Bangers, and Jamie Sangster in the Unlimited Bangers.
Although there weren't a huge number of Saloon Stock Cars on track, there were some exciting battles with Tam Rutherford taking advantage of a tussle for second place to win the Final.
It was the first Cowdenbeath National Points Series Championship round for the BriSCA F2 drivers, with defending champion Charlie Guinchard making the long trip north to race along with Gala Champion Jack Witts, and Tom Bennett.
The track was greasy for the first race, where Paul Reid (Cowdenbeath) was the initial leader.
Wet weather specialists John Hogg and Craig Wallace were making quick progress through the pack and it wasn't long before J. Hogg was in the lead.
P. Reid dropped back and into retirement as Wallace made it up to second, but was unable to make meaningful inroads into J. Hogg's lead. In the end J. Hogg won ahead of Wallace and Reece McIntosh (Glenrothes).
Further back there was an intriguing battle between Witts and Jason McDonald, with Witts just taking the position.
A drier track for the second heat saw P. Reid much further into the race. Brian Hogg and Steven Burgoyne were early casualties as Chris Burgoyne emerged as P. Reid's leading challenger. C. Burgoyne took the lead with the lap boards out and went on to win ahead of P. Reid and Guinchard, who passed Bennett on the last lap after the latter was slowed slightly by a backmarking car.
The Final followed a similar pattern to the second heat, with the track now dry. C. Burgoyne was on a mission, taking the lead from P. Reid before half distance.
The battle for second eventually became between Bennett, S. Burgoyne and Guinchard.
Bennett got a break at the start of the last lap to secure the runners-up spot while Guinchard was out of range for a last bend move on S. Burgoyne for third. P. Reid finally got his win in the Grand National, leading home McIntosh and J. Hogg.
A slightly unusual grid of Saloon Stock Cars included Joshua Donovan in Harry Bruce's car, while Scott Smith celebrated his birthday with a run in the Rian Mitchell car. Also on the grid was Lee Burden, for his first meeting of the season.
Duncan Welsh (Kelty) led the first heat until around half distance when he was baulked by Donovan, who was recovering from a trip to the wall, allowing Tam Rutherford into the lead.
Rutherford looked on for a win until he spun out of contention on the turnstile bend which allowed Welsh back into the lead, although he now had Smith, Gary Paterson (Saline) and Kalin Bryson (Cowdenbeath) for company.
Welsh survived a couple of knocks into the wall to win, Paterson got the better of Bryson on the last corner for second.
Graeme Shevill and Kai Gilmour, who had missed heat one, were on the track for heat two which had to be halted when Donovan clobbered the pit bend wall heavily, eventually coming to a stop at the end of the home straight.
Smith and Burden led the restart but were overtaken by Shevill, as Derek Taylor spun on the entry to the back straight.
Shevill went on to win ahead of Paterson and Rutherford, who just pipped Gilmour to third after a drag race to the line.
Burden and Smith were battling for the lead at the start of the Final when Burden hit a marker tyre and sent it on to the corner, Smith spun around while Shevill was pushed into the marker tyre and Sean Devine climbed the wall!
Rutherford led the restart with Shevill, Paterson and Gilmour engaging in battle for second.
Meanwhile, Burden and Taylor clashed heavily on the turnstile bend, the latter being forced into retirement.
The battle behind helped Rutherford to pull clear in front on his way to his first win of the year. Paterson was the runner-up and Shevill third.
After another busy Knockhill fixture, the Prostock Basics were back in action with the field big enough to necessitate a two thirds format.
The yellow flags appeared early in the first heat when Elise Robertson found herself stranded on the turnstile bend and was collected by Ellie Ferguson.
John Harris (Methil) and Owen Geddes who each clattered the wall when the race got back underway on opposite straights, as debutant Ryan Neilson recorded an impressive win ahead of Cole McDonald, Joanne Hilditch and Liam Boyle (Hillend).
It was another first-time winner in the second heat, as fellow first time racer, Mark Bartleman, took a flag-to-flag win. Norman Moore (Hill of Beath) battled through the pack for second and Terry Curran was third.
Geddes was in the thick of the action again in the third heat, after a tangle with another couple of cars sent him heavily into the pit bend wall - fortunately he was able to exit the car under his own power.
Jay Fordyce led the restart with Marc Binnie and Moore close behind, although Fordyce was to clip the wall forcing him out of the race.
Binnie crossed the line first but was penalised one place for contact, handing the win to Moore. Third went to Paul Lovett.
Harris and Bartleman jostled for the lead of the Final for a few laps before Bartleman broke clear.
The pack began to bunch up behind, with Neilson clipping a marker tyre on the entry to the pit bend which sent Gail Paton off-line and bouncing into the wall.
Just as the yellow flags were called, G. Paton was collected by Robertson which ripped a rear wheel from the former's car while Robertson got out of the vehicle before being checked over by the track paramedics.
The race was declared with Bartleman winning his second race of the night, Harris was second and Greg Fraser third.
A decent entry of Unlimited Bangers predominantly featured left over cars from the World Cup meeting earlier in the month.
James Slater (Glenrothes), Jon Taylor and Colin Riddell were the front runners in the first heat until Slater spun on the turnstile bend, shortly followed by Taylor who had received a help around from Riddell.
Sean McConnachie was another spinner as Riddell won ahead of Jamie Sangster and Charlie Whitfield.
Taylor was an early spinner in heat two, which led to Whitfield, McConnachie and Paul Strathdee all tangling up. The incident cleared itself as Sangster raced to the win, Fraser Combe was second and Robert Ryan third.
Strathdee and Euan Faithfull took a trip to the wall at the beginning of the Final, the latter retiring shortly afterwards. Sangster caught long-time leader Combe to take his second win of the evening, while Ryan spun in the closing stages of the race.
There were track debuts in the Junior Bangers for Jayden Kennedy and Rayah Burns, as well as a first-ever meeting for TJ Summers.
Naomi Bain and Gabe Scott were spinners in the first heat which went down to the last few metres, Dougie Kidd squeezing past Tommy Melrose to win while Kenzie Kopacz completed the top three.
Melrose disposed of Kidd in heat two, the latter's car crossing the track only to be hit by Scott Ramsay Jnr which suspended the race.
Melrose made light work of the restart after he got past Scott, then Kopacz recovered from a spin for second and Steven Allan Jnr was third.
Melrose, Kopacz and Kidd tangled on the turnstile bend at the beginning of the Final with only Melrose able to continue straight away. Ramsay Jnr was shown the technical disqualification flag as Scott spun on the exit of the pit bend and was rattled by Burns, stopping the race.
After Scott had got out of his car the race restarted, with Melrose avoiding Kopacz' attempts to thwart his progress to take the win. Bain was second and Summers third.
It's another early start time at the Racewall this Saturday with Saloon Stock Cars, ORCi Stock Rods, Prostock Basics, Micro F2 and Streetstox all set to be on track. The first green flag drops at 5.30pm.
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