OVER 120 cars were in action over the two days at Lochgelly Raceway, on Saturday and Sunday with 30 fantastic races taking to the track, writes our Raceway correspondent, Kevin McQueen.
From the outset, the atmosphere was phenomenal. A pre meeting meet and greet with the World Championship drivers set the stage for the weekend as the anticipation for the event built up.
Five major championships were raced for – The Superstox ASD Racing Products World Championship, Stock Rods World Championship, Superstox Internations Championship, Super Twos European Championship and Junior Super Twos European Championship.
Each of the five provided drama, excitement and spectacular on track action!
The World Championship events were the headline attraction, with the Superstox racing for their's on the Saturday night, and the Stock Rods on the Sunday afternoon.
The Superstox World Championship was the first race of the day for the formula, with the top drivers from throughout the UK and Ireland represented.
It was an action packed affair with multiple race cautions and on track incidents. Scot Bryan Forrest led the way early in the race and looked to be in with a good chance but for a caution backing the pack up once more.
Upon the restart, Forrest was under pressure and got caught up with the challenging drivers, and clipped the wall on the exit of turn 2, damaging the steering, which in turn sent him hard into turn 3 and into the wall!
As the race resumed, a number of contenders had fallen by the wayside, and those that had started further back were soon nearer the front.
The front bumpers continued to go in throughout the race. Michael Green soon moved himself into the lead of the race, and raced to victory ahead of Jamie McCann and Eric Walker. Post race checks would see the result amended, with McCann awarded victory.
Two graded order heats would follow, with the points from these races determining the grid for Sunday afternoon's Internations Championship. 154 Michael Green crossed the line in first place in heat 1 ahead of Eric Walker, whilst Walker took the win in heat two ahead of Nathan Browning. With the results tallied up, Eric Walker would start on pole position for the Internations Championship on the Sunday afternoon with Green alongside.
A hard hitting first few laps saw Northern Ireland’s Steven Haugh move into the lead of the race. Martyn Coles was consistent all weekend and was making good progress throughout the race as he moved into the top five places. Haugh maintained a steady gap to those behind and took the win in the 2026 Internations Championship. Green crossed the line in second, with Coles in third.
A graded race for the Iain Bruce Memorial Event would see some very quick lower graded drivers show good pace, with 206 Dec Stansfield taking the win – his first in the formula we are led to believe.
The Scottish Open saw the drivers line up in reverse points order – so the drivers that had scored well over the weekend, had to come through the pack. Haugh and Walker had both scored well, and would start near the back of the grid. Josh Duff looked to be Scotland’s best chance, getting into a good position early on.
However, he would soon drop down the places with Jamie McCann coming through to take the win, and Steven Haugh 2nd with Duff 3rd.
The Stock Rods raced in 2 out of 3 qualifying heats on Saturday night to determine the grid for their World Championship, with the drivers pulling out of the hat to determine where they would start for each of the qualifying heats.
Three different drivers, from three different nations would take victory in the qualifying heats – Sam McNeice, Stuart Smyth and Lee McGill coming away victorious.
Northern Ireland’s Mark Crawford had been the most consistent though, and started the World Championship race on pole position with compatriot Harry Minish alongside and Lee McGill just behind.
A frantic first few laps saw a number of drivers tangle and into retirement from the race. Robbie Armit found himself sitting in 2nd place behind Crawford for long parts of the race.
Armit was under pressure from McGill for periods, before McGill retired from the race. Armit appeared to have some damage and wasn’t able to reel in runaway leader Mark Crawford. Crawford crossed the line in first ahead of Robbie Armit and Max Bradburn.
Armit has been awarded victory for the race, though, Crawford has signalled his intention to appeal.
Declan O’Connor took victory in the reverse World Final heat, before Crawford took the flag in the Scottish Open, with Sam McNeice and Eogan Burke following him across the line.
The U Pull It 1400 Stock Cars also welcomed a few Northern Irish visitors, with around 30 cars taking to the track over the two days.
The racing was fantastic from the outset as the drivers set about producing entertaining racing. Curtis Greer took an opening race heat win ahead of Chris Innes and Dean Sievwright.
Heat two saw Kenneth Scollon take the win ahead of Sam Cavanagh, with Sievwright taking the win in the meeting final ahead of Cavanagh and Scollon.
It was a night where the star graded drivers struggled to catch some very quick drivers ahead of them whilst the likes of Rory Naismith and Gary Nicholls got stuck in about each other!
The Sunday saw two further heats, with race wins going the way of Patrick Calderwood and Fraser Clark – Five races across the weekend so far, and five different winners! The Lochgelly Masters race would see the drivers lined up in weekend points order.
The bumpers went in early one, and it was Curtis Greer that came away in the lead of the race. Sam Cavanagh was in great form and looked to be in with a chance of a podium result, but was pipped in the closing stages by Brant West and Fraser Clark, who completed the podium places behind Greer.
The Super Twos and Junior Super Twos were a visiting formula, and provided entertaining races throughout the weekend – We had hard hitting action, rollovers and cars climbing over each other over the two days.
We’d like to thank each of the race teams for making the trip to Scotland to be with us, and producing two superb days of racing whilst racing for the formula’s first ever European Championships!
Congratulations go to all the winners and podium finishers, and a huge thank you to everyone who came along and supported racing at HRP Lochgelly Raceway.
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