IT was a frantic Friday night at Lochgelly Raceway as we squeezed 13 races into just three hours despite a number of on track delays, writes Raceway reporter Kevin McQueen.
The Ninja Karts were in fine form for the second week in succession and it was great to see another driver scoop their first win in the formula. Cole Ford, a newcomer at the beginning of the 2019 season took the opening race of the night, which was eligible for all whites and yellow grade drivers.
Eevie Ford brought her kart home in second place in what was an excellent couple of results for the Ford clan, with Kenzie Kopacz finishing in third position. Kenzie Kopacz had his best night in the formula since joining the ranks earlier this year, taking home a couple of third positions for his efforts.
The first heat of the night saw all karts take to the grid with around 20 karts on track. Toby Tyson came from the back of the grid as he battled his way through to the front come the chequered flag, with Lewis Linton finishing second and Connie Anderson bringing her kart home in an excellent third position.
Heat 2 of the night saw Lewis Linton continue his good form, taking his third race win in just two meetings, whilst Declan Dixon appears to have returned to form, finishing in second position with Hamish Plenderleith coming home in third place as he looks to cement his place as one of the top drivers in the class.
The final race of the evening for the youngsters brought about another good race. Dougie Kidd continued his impressive form in the second half of 2019, as he racked up another race win, with Toby Tyson managing to get through to second place, with Kenzie Kopacz finishing third.
As we went across the weekend, news reached us that HRP’s Bailey Millar won the Ninja Kart World Cup at Lydden on Saturday – the 2nd year in succession that the title has came to Scotland following Charlie Hardie’s success last year!
The Ministox, as always here at Lochgelly Raceway, were in fantastic form with some excellent racing from the youngsters as they traded paint throughout the night as they battled for each and every point.
The HRP National Points Championship is seemingly a three way battle at the top of the charts. Scott Allardyce retains a slender 20 point advantage over Mitchell Gold, who in turn is only 9 points ahead of Ciaran Adams – a fantastic battle is sure to prevail as the youngsters battle for the coveted silver roof!
It was a night of lower grade (and former Ninja Kart stars) dominance though as the red grade drivers struggled to make headway in an ultra competitive field of cars.
Charlie Hardie took the opening race of the night from yellow grade as he continues to find his feed in the formula. Lauren Ford finished in 2nd place with Declan Honeyman bringing his car home in third place. Declan, the former Ninja Kart star, appears to be the in form driver in Scotland at the moment as he continues to achieve great results across the country.
The second heat of the evening saw Robbie Armit make the most of his blue grade start as he had a great battle with Kai Gilmour for the race win, though it was Robbie that came out on top with Gilmour finishing 2nd and Honeyman 3rd. The meeting final saw another great battle between Armit and Gilmour, with Gilmour going for a lunge on Armit with a few laps to go, however, he failed to make proper contact which enabled the oncoming Declan Honeyman through. Armit took the race win with Honeyman finishing 2nd after surviving a bit of a last lap lunge from the Gilmour machine.
The CC Rods had their final meeting ahead of there Scottish Championship in a few weeks time and it proved to be quite a meeting!
Chris Hutchison won the opening race of the night with Daniel MacDonald and Raymond Brown rounding out the top three, however, a last lap incident saw a few cars leave the track with quite significant damage.
A coming together between Ian Donaldson and Shane Allen on the entrance to turn one, sparked a domino effect behind as Robert Cairns and Shane Allen then came together with Allen spinning around. Ian Hotchkies and Dylan Gall took evasive action to avoid the Allen car but both cars ended up clattering the wall suffering substantial damage.
The second heat of the evening saw Brandon Gourlay continue his recent upsurge in form as he took a race win, with Robert Cairns finishing just behind in second place and Emma Kirk in third. The meeting final saw Daniel MacDonald claim a race win after a good battle with Brandon Gourlay who finished just behind, with yellow grade driver Chris Hutchision hanging onto the lead battle for the entire race as he took an excellent third position.
The ProStocks were the final formula in action on Friday night. New European Champion Dean McGill was with us but struggled with performance throughout the night with his best result coming in the opening heat as he took a third position.
Darren Rae continued to show great pace since returning to action as he took the opening race win, with Dougie Kidd finishing second and McGill third. Heat 2 of the night saw David Linton make it out after missing the opening heat and was straight on form as he took the race win, with Ryan Martin finishing second and Kidd in third. The meeting final seen Linton again take the flag with Rae finishing second and Kidd rounding off the top 3.
We are back in action at Lochgelly Raceway on Saturday August 10 as we welcome the 2.0 Bangers, 2.0 Hot Rods, Classic Hot Rods, Junior Productions and Superstox who are in action for the final time ahead of there World Championship at the end of August here at Lochgelly Raceway!
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