IT started off a relatively dry night at Lochgelly Raceway, with good fast racing, however, mid-way through the evening the weather turned for the worse, coupled by some oil on the track, it made for greasy and unpredictable track conditions, writes our Raceway scribe Kevin McQueen.

The youngsters in the Ninja Karts kicked-off the evening with the whites and yellows race. Cole Ford led the way in the early stages as he battled with Leeland Dearn, with Lewis Linton and Jack Baird coming from the yellow grade to challenge for the lead.

Linton and Baird got to he front and had a great race with nothing really between them for the duration – it was Jack Baird (112) that crossed the line in 1st though, with Linton (297) in 2nd and Leeland Dearn (878) coming home in 3rd position – an excellent confidence booster for many of these young drivers.

The Ninja Karts managed to get there 2nd race of the night done before the track turned wet for the latter races. A full grid of karts saw the blues and reds join in on the action, but even they couldn’t quite stop the dominance of the lower grade karts!

Lewis Linton took the chequered flag with Hamish Plenderleith(6) getting ever closer in the closing stages but not quite close enough having to settle for 2nd place, with Baird finishing in 3rd position. ]

The third race of the night for the youngsters was in wet conditions, although it ultimately didn’t affect the end result. The race started off with Cole Ford (388) and Lennon Grant (117) getting away well from the white grade and leading the opening laps. However, Baird and Linton were the first ones to get through into the top 2 positions and again had a battle that had them race in close contention with each other for the remainder of the race.

It was Baird who took the victory though and securing his 2nd win of the night, with Linton finishing in 2nd place and Plenderleith again coming home in 3rd position. Lennon Grant held on for an excellent 4th position, whilst Cole Ford also scored points.

The final race of the night was for the Crystal Baird Memorial Trophy, a race that a few wanted to win. Linton got away well and never looked like being caught, although Jack Baird did his utmost to reel him in but was ultimately to no avail.

A great race saw Lochgelly drivers Lewis Duffy (636), Lewis Dickson (307) and Aiden Duffy (74) climb up through the places. Linton took the victory in the race with Lewis Duffy and Dickson promoted to 2nd and 3rd after an amendment to the way the karts crossed the line. Connie Anderson (49) brought her kart home in an excellent 4th position, with Aiden Duffy finishing in 5th.

The Stock Rods were in action and with only one more home meeting (16th August) to go before the World Championship here at Lochgelly on August 31 and September 1, there was still a lot to play for in terms of qualification of the big race and the National Points Championship!

Siobhan Martin (25) went into the evening around 50 points ahead of nearest challenger Chris Lattka (658) with only 2 home meetings and the National Championship at Hednesford available to score points in this battle.

The midfield battle for the last of the HRP qualifiers is effectively a 4 way battle with Chris Dean (878), Alan Cuthbert (52), Andy Grant (7) and Jock McEwan (557) all in contention for that place. The opening race of the evening saw Andy Grant race to the front after battling his way past the likes of Cuthbert and McEwan.

Siobhan Lattka managed to fight her way through from the back of the grid and was right on the back bumper of Grant in the closing few laps as she battled for the race win. Grant though, held a solid line and had enough pace to keep Martin at bay as he took the race win in the opening heat, with Martin coming home 2nd and Gary Dean (27) in 3rd.

Heat 2 of the night saw Siobhan Martin continue her impressive form as she fought her way through the field. Jock McEwan led the race in the early parts as he showed good pace, with drivers struggling to overcome him.

Gary Nicholls (176) and Siobhan were the only two that managed this throughout the race, with Martin taking the win ahead of Nicholls and McEwan. The meeting final saw Siobhan continue her impressive streak in 2019 as she took yet another final victory, with Nicholls and Chris Lattka (658) rounding out the top three.

The Junior Productions saw Jase Walle return to action and what a return it was as he stormed to victory in the opening race of the night. Jenna Kirk, making her 2nd appearance of the season, had no such luck though, as she was involved in a couple of incidents on the night that saw her car leave the track with a bit of damage. Hopefully she’ll get it sorted out soon enough and will be back on track soon!

Amy Devine (9) finished in 2nd place in the opening heat after making steady progress around the raceway, with Harvey Sneddon (232) coming from the back to pick up a 3rd position.

Heat 2 of the night saw John Bremner (605) take a win with Devine again finishing 2nd, with Jensen Bell (871) finishing 3rd. The final race of the evening was for the Crystal Baird Memorial Trophy which saw Bremner again victorious, with Jack Beresford (5) finishing 2nd with Bell 3rd after a couple of dockings for other drivers.

The CC Rods had another strong field of cars on track with Dylan Gall (224) making his debut in the formula, whist Richard Cairns (26) made a return to racing. Kyle Hutchison (289) led the way for much of the opening race of the night before being reeled in by Shane Allen (13) who is becoming a dominant force in the formula.

Emma Kirk (71) had her best meeting of the season and finished in a solid 3rd position in opening race for the CC Rods. Heat 2 of the evening saw Hutchison make another great start from the front and raced to a healthy lead. It was again Shane Allen that made his way through the pack quickest as he looked to challenge for the lead. Daniel MacDonald (518) was also up there as the battled to overcome Lee Scott (337). Hutchison held on for the win, with Allen finishing 2nd and MacDonald in 3rd.

The meeting final seen the seasons high fliers return to the front with Ian Donaldson (700) taking the win, but only after having a great battle with Shane Allen for the race lead. Allen held his line and forced Donaldson the long way around on a wet track. Donaldson made his move stick after a few laps of trying before breaking clear of the pack – MacDonald and Lee Wotherspoon (267) were the next ones to fight there way past the quick Allen car, with both eventually managing to get through to take 2nd and 3rd positions respectively with Allen dropping back to 4th.

The 1300 Stock Cars were down on numbers, however, the likes of Rory Naismith, Sean Naismith, Eddie Corr and Danny Whyte all put on a good show of racing throughout the night, with some excellent battles amongst themselves. Rory Naismith (700) took a heat and final double with Whyte (126) taking another heat.

We’re back in action this coming Friday (August 2) for our latest bout of on track action – For a full list of fixtures, be sure to check out our website at hardieracepromotions.co.uk.