Lochgelly track produces fireworks

Try as the weather tried, it didn’t prevent an excellent night of racing from occurring, nor did it put off many spectators!

Our trackside parking facility was full with over half an hour until start time to go, the stands were busy and the car park overflowing onto the adjacent drift track.

The Van Bangers were competing for the Shaun Walsh Memorial Trophy, sponsored by Ayrshire Car Breakers.

Some 16 Vans turned up to race with one being built in the pit area before the racing began!! The opening race kicked off in style with the hits going in around the raceway and with the track partially blocked. The crowd were cheering as Sean McConnachie turned his van around only to be delivered a massive hit in the side of his van from Josh Heeps, with the crowd cheering in excitement.

Sean managed to drive away though and rejoined the race. Zak Murdoch led proceedings early on but was caught up in one of the track accidents allowing Neil Naismith through and into the lead. Naismith carried on to take the win by a van’s length from the chasing Murdoch, with Sean McConnachie coming home in third place.

With numbers depleted slightly for the 2nd race, it was another action packed race where every driver just seemed to want to crash resulting in just two finishers, Calvin McVay and Chris Thomson.

The final race of the evening for the bangers was completed only by 180, Sean McConnachie, and the DD at the end of the night won by Calvin McVay.

The National Hot Rods were in action for the latest round in their World Qualifying Series, and all roads lead to Ipswich in July.

The opening race saw newcomer to the formula, former 2l Hot Rod World Champion, Gordon Alexander 71 take the win following a great scrap for the lead with Roy Anderson 36. Roy led the race for the majority of the race and after being caught by the Alexander machine, held a solid line making any overtake extremely difficult. A small gap presented itself on the inside of turn 1 which Alexander squeezed into resulting in a bit of contact with the Anderson machine, Alexander got through into the lead. The race wasn’t over yet though as Roy Anderson came back at him within the next lap or 2 and regained the lead, squeezing through on the inside of the 71 car, only briefly though as Alexander quickly got back in front and went onto win his debut race in the formula. Heat 2 seen Gordon Alexander get involved in a great race with Steven Armit, with neither driver willing to give the positions up, a few bumps along the way, however, saw the race Steward dock both drivers at the end of the race giving it is a non contact formula!

The pair fighting it out allowed the lower grade drivers to steal some ground at the front of the track, Roy Anderson winning the race by almost half a lap followed home by Gordon Ogilvie in the 385 car, with Benarty driver Billy Bonnar coming home in third.

The final for the Hot Rods saw Alexander get the break from the pack and reeled in Anderson again. As the pair of them battled for the lead, Ian McGuigan slowly caught up and was onto the back bumpers with around 5 laps to go. A lock up from Anderson allowed Alexander through into the lead and that was how the race was to finish, Alexander, Anderson and McGuigan. A great shift from the National Hot Rods despite the atrocious weather conditions.

The Stock Rods were in good numbers, with a couple of new or returning drivers on track, it mixed up the results from the norm. Newcomer to the formula Chris Dearn walked away with the opening 2 heats in comfortable fashion whilst the rest of the pack battled behind him. However, Chris was unable to make it out for the meeting final which put an end to his chances of a hat trick of wins.

The meeting final, sponsored by ASD Welding Services and Pie Performance Motorsport, saw 25 Siobhan Martin lead from start to finish – however, it wasn’t as simple as that sounds as she had Northern Irish visitor Derek McMillan hot on her tail for the duration of the race, one mistake and Derek would have been through into the lead.

Siobhan used her experience well though, held her nerve and held on to take the chequered flag from McMillan, with Darren McAlpine coming home in third place.

The Superstox were in action and had a trio of different winners across the night.

Adam Low took the opening race from Stuart Gilchrist and Bryan Forrest, whilst the 2nd heat saw Gilchrist take the chequer flag from Chris Miller and Kenny McKenzie.

The final saw Low get out in front again with Gilchrist catching from the back of the pack. Gilchrist caught Low with a few laps to go, put Low wide to get up the inside, however Low managed to keep with Gilchrist along the back straight, and a coming together saw the 177 car spin out towards the wall. This coming together allowed Chris Miller to sneak through and into the lead with Low finishing 2nd, and Dean Johnston, 446, finishing 3rd after a last corner hit on 178 Mark Dews.

Finally, the Ministox. Wow, what a turnout of cars for the opening meeting of the season. 25 cars took to the track in the opening heat, 3 English drivers amongst them.

The action started right from the off, with cars tangling together in the opening laps, resulting in Jay Carruthers, Taylor Borthwick and one other car head into the wall.

All drivers managed to get the cars free and moving again though without the aid of a yellow flag. It was Mitchell Gold 199 who came out on top come the end of the opening heat, taking the race win with a couple of English visitors rounding up the top 3.

The 2nd heat saw Kai Gilmour get away quickly and into the lead, with the action all taking place further back the field. Kai raced home to take a very well deserved maiden win in the formula.

The meeting final saw Taylor Borthwick 629 get to the front chased by visiting driver Aaron Richards 210. Aaron put the bumper in a number of times to no avail on Taylor in the closing few laps and it looked like Taylor was going to hold on for the race win, however, with around 2 laps to go, Aaron finally made a gap and squeezed through into the lead, putting just enough daylight between himself and Taylor to prevent any form of comeback hit. Kai Gilmour came home in third place, rounding off a successful evening for himself.

Join us this coming Saturday from 6pm at Lochgelly Raceway where we host 1300 Stock Cars, 2.0 Hot Rods, CC Rods, the all action Ninja Karts and Stock Rods for another great 5 formula line up! All this for just £10 per adult with trackside parking available for just £5 per vehicle. More information is available on our website at hardieracepromotions.co.uk.