SATURDAY saw Lochgelly Raceway host the first of tow DOUBLE Scottish Championship events with the ProStocks racing for the Sutherland Home Improvements Scottish Championship, whilst the Ninja Karts were racing for the KN Transport Ltd Scottish Championship, writes our Raceway scribe Kevin McQueen.
The CC Rods, Superstox and 2.0 Hot Rods were also in action in a supporting role.
An excellent 24 Ninja Karts kicked off the evening with the first of their two heats which were pre-drawn ahead of the race meeting.
As the race settled down after a couple of laps, it was Kenzie Bell (721) who had got into the lead in the early stages. One of the pre meeting favourites for the title, Toby Tyson (809), saw himself spin out in the early stages, dropping him back the order.
Kayden Connor (27) began to put a challenge on Kenzie Bell around the midway stage of the race before managing to overtake and lead. Bell finished the race in 2nd place, with Declan Dixon (73) coming from his midfield starting position to finish in 3rd position.
Heat 2 of the evening saw a few incidents and a number of yellow flags come out. As the race progressed, Declan Dixon had made his way into the top 3, with Kayden Connor, Demi Ritchie (14) and Toby Tyson all in hot pursuit, whilst Kenzie Bell was making solid progress as well.
With only 2 laps to go, a couple of karts made contact including Kayden Connor and Lewis Linton (297) before they hit the wall. A domino effect occurred with a couple of other karts spinning and hitting each other with Keiran Hay (562) and William Plenderleith (9) being the most obvious ones crashing out, and into the already crashed Linton and Connor karts.
With the yellow flags coming out, it was Dixon who led the way on the restart where he held onto take the race win ahead of Demi Ritchie and Kenzie Bell, with Tyson finishing in 4th position.
The Scottish championship grid was formed with all 24 karts making it out on track and the front row was occupied by Declan Dixon and Kenzie Bell with Demi Ritchie and Toby Tyson just behind.
As the green flag dropped it was Kenzie Bell who got away first before a yellow flag was called for a couple of spinners on the opening lap. A complete restart was called and the grid reformed. Again, it was Kenzie Bell who got away best from the start with Dixon, Ritchie and Tyson all just behind. As the battle for the lead went on, the track became greasier with the rain beginning to fall, Kenzie Bell spun out on turn 2 putting an end to his hopes of success. Tyson had took the lead and never really looked back, opening up a 4 second lead to the challengers behind. Tyson took the flag to claim the KN Transport Scottish Championship, with Demi Ritchie and Declan Dixon finishing side by side. After much review and system checking, Ritchie was awarded 2nd place ahead of Dixon, with the karts officially separated by just 0.003 seconds!
The ProStocks Scottish Championship was the first scheduled race of the night for the formula with 18 cars taking to the grid. The grid was drawn prior to the meeting and it was Mark Boyle (127) drew the #1 position on the grid and as the green flag dropped, he made that position his own. Further back the field, there was a lot of battles going on, with the likes of Dougie Kidd (145) and Darren Rae (638) trying to come through from nearer the rear of the grid. John Mason (760) was up into 5th position and looking in good shape to make a charge for the cars in front before he tangled with Craig Murray (605) with both cars striking the wall as a result with Mason soon retiring to the infield.
Dougie Kidd and Lee Kopacz (133) soon dropped out of contention as they retired to the infield. The track had opened up and it was Darren Rae that was on a charge as he set after Mark Boyle up front.
The gap quickly closed down and a mistake from Boyle allowed Rae up the inside and into the lead, where he opened up a healthy gap to the cars behind to take the 2019 Sutherland Home Improvements Scottish Championship ahead of Mark Boyle and Ryan Martin (3). The following races saw David Linton (297) take a race victory and Craig Murray taking a rare race win at Lochgelly Raceway.
The 2.0 Hot Rods had an eventful evening with a few comings together throughout the night. The opening race of the night saw Kevin Stewart (668) and Trevor Calvin (323) clash bumpers which seen the Kevin Stewart car disqualified from the race for the coming together, but only after he was spun out by Jim Pitcaithly (91), who was also docked for his infringement. Marc Fortune (64) took the opening race win – his 2nd race win in successive meetings in the formula as he looks to be finding his feet.
The 2nd race of the evening seen Wayne Lee (99) and Marc Fortune battling for the lead of the race in the early stages before Fortune attempted a manouvere around the outside, only for him to loose grip and catch Gary Black (16) as he was coming by. The contact seen Gary Black spin head on into the wall causing substantial damage to the car only to be collected by the oncoming Trevor Calvin as well, who also suffered a bit of damage. Brian Wilson (696) crossed the line in first place, though was later docked for contact, giving the win to Jim Pitcaithly with Andrew Denholm (217) taking 2nd.
The meeting final saw the track becoming increasingly wet and it was Jock Campbell (26) who was the dominant force in the race, although Brian Wilson stuck with him for the majority. The lead 2 cars lapped most of the cars before the chequered flag came out, with Pitcaithly bringing his car home in 3rd, despite being nearly a full lap adrift.
The CC Rods again had a good number of cars on track, including 2 newcomers to the formula – Andrew Nelson (232) and Paul Winfield (822). Craig Watson (679) showed off his Scottish Championship roof for the first time since he won the title a couple of weeks ago. Robert Cairns (26) made the most of his new starting slot as he took the opening heat race win in relatively comfortable fashion ahead of Graham Campbell (69) and Andrew Nelson. The 2nd heat of the evening saw Andrew Nelson claim a race win in his first meeting in the formula, with Lee Wotherspoon (267) and Graham Campbell rounding out the top three. The meeting final saw Brian Allen (28) get to the front in the wet conditions and took the race win with a few car lengths to spare ahead of Andrew Nelson and Ian Donaldson (700).
The Superstox were the final formula in action and with a slightly depleted field the racing was a little flatter than normal. However, there were a number of incidents to note and some excellent racing between the drivers as the battled for positions. Adam Low (611) tried his best to liven things up as he threw the bumper in on numerous occasions, not least though when he made contact with Campbell Scott (34) with both cars clattering the wall with a fair amount of damage. Aaron Riddell (119) continued his good form as he took a race win, as well as top 3 places in every race. National Points Champion Bryan Forrest (309) took a heat and final double race win.
We are back on Saturday with the 1300 Stock Car Scottish Championship and the Rogerson Coach Travel Junior Productions Scottish Championship.
We are just a few weeks away from the National Micro BANGER WORLD CUP, where we have 140 cars booked into race across 2 excellent days of action – join us on the 12th and 13th October for this event – more information and tickets via hardieracepromotions.co.uk
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