IN what was arguably one of the best domestic meetings of the season to date, on Saturday , at Lochgelly Raceway, there was some epic on-track entertainment, writes our Raceway scribe, Kevin McQueen.
The van bangers delighted throughout the evening, whilst every other formula put in an excellent and entertaining performance as well.
Around 15 vans turned up on the night and provided great entertainment from the outset – the first race, being a nudge and spin event, seeing most of the vans survive the race, though, with some late race drama.
There were some repairs required in the pits from the race teams, with not all making it out into the following races – Suffolk based Keiran Tweed took the win in heat 1, ahead of Paul Barron and Chris Thomson.
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Heat 2 saw the vans spring into life, with many drivers getting stuck-in and causing chaos! James Slater and Mark Morrison both set out to entertain the crowd with blocking the track and getting stuck in on turns 3 and 4.
Scottish Champion, Paul Barron, found himself on the receiving end of a push from Lee Clarke, and he had nowhere to go as he careered into the Mark Morrison van, with James Slater and Jamie Sangster also getting involved in the pile up.
In a cloud of smoke, as tyres spun as the vans tried to free themselves, some would be able to move on, with others not so fortunate with some substantial damage to the vans.
Keiran Tweed avoided the drama, despite a few near misses, as he went on about securing another win as he closed the gap in the National Banger National Points.
Zak Murdoch and Gavin Broadbent both got stuck in, with Murdoch giving a few big hits throughout the evening, whilst racing his van to some great results in the process.
The meeting final saw the numbers fall away in the early stages as the vans continued to go about crashing, with only a handful of them surviving until the demolition derby. Tweed would take the win in the race to complete his hat trick, whilst Gavin Broadbent would be the one to take the win in the DD, following a great battle with Chris Thomson.
The Superstox were in action for the final time, ahead of the summer break and provided some great competitive racing, with three different winners on the night. Mirran Adams felt the force of a coming together in heat 1, as she spun around and found herself pointing the wrong way.
Mirran would then be collected by the oncoming Campbell Scott and Kenny McKenzie, with both drivers unable to avoid a coming together.
A race caution was called for as the track team recovered the 028 car from the raceway.
Aaron Riddell, on his return to action following the acquisition of the Michael Green RCE, looked quick, with some impressive lap times throughout the opening heat. Riddell would go on to take victory ahead of Dean Johnston and Campbell Scott.
Heat 2 saw another closely fought battle with some brilliant racing between Adam Low, Aaron Riddell, Dean Johnston and Kenny McKenzie. Low got to the front quickly, but would find his lead closed down by Johnston behind, who also had Riddell and McKenzie in close pursuit.
Johnston soon caught Low and moved him over out of the way to move into the lead of the race – though, this was to be short lived as Low came back at Johnston and exquisitely spun him around on the back straight as the drivers behind took some evasive action.
Johnston did a complete 360 though, and didn’t’ lose too much time and was back on the road in 3rd place, with Riddell having took evasive action behind him to avoid a coming together.
Riddell lost out with McKenzie leapfrogging both drivers, with Riddell under pressure from Ciaran Adams behind as a result. Low took the race win ahead of McKenzie and Johnston.
The meeting final saw the reds and superstar drivers mix it up early on, with some hits going in early doors. Dean Johnston and Aaron Riddell had little between them for much of the race, with the pair moving through the traffic together throughout the race, with Johnston opening up a cushion in the 2nd half to Riddell behind.
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Both drivers raced to 1st and 2nd with Adam Low completing the top 3.
The ORCi Ministox were in action ahead of their APEX Garden Buildings Scottish Championship this coming Saturday night. A few drivers were missing, but the youngsters continued to put in an excellent performance with lots of hard fast racing.
Cole Ford and David Philp Jnr seemed to have a few coming togethers throughout the night, with Ford finding himself spun around on a couple of occasions, though Philp was penalized for an incident between the two in the opening race. Former Ninja Kart star, Dougie Kidd, continued to impress from the white grade, with another dominant performance in the opening heat as he romped to a race win, with Stuart Shevill Jnr his closest challenger come the end of the race. Rubens Millar brought his car home in third place in heat 1.
Heat 2 saw another entertaining affair from the youngsters, with more hits, pushes, spins and incidents.
Caitlin Mitchell was in the thick of it midway through, as she found herself running around the infield and over the kerbs, before rejoining on the back straight as the cars went three abreast into turn 3. Mitchell was caught by Ollie Sime as she came across the track, with Sime having Robbie Scott on the outside too.
As the cars turned into turn 3, Mitchell found herself spinning around and clattering the wall hard, with a quick yellow flag called for to check on the driver.
She clambered out of the car with some assistance, but the tough girl racer will be eager to go again soon. Dougie Kidd found his lead at the front disappear as the caution bunched the pack up. Rhys Kelly, who has been a consistent front runner at Lochgelly this year, took a well deserved victory in heat 2, with Dougie Kidd holding on for 2nd place ahead of David Philp.
The meeting final saw the bumpers continue to be used, with Rachel and Dougie Kidd in the thick of the action in the closing stages.
Rachel put in a big hit on Rubens Millar before Dougie Kidd tried to dispatch Dean Heeps on the last lap too. Stuart Shevill Jnr kept his nose clean as he and Dougie Kidd had an excellent battle for the lead of the race throughout the first half of the race.
With the pair dicing though, it allowed the pack to close in, Rubens Millar, Kerr Paterson, Rhys Kelly and Ollie Sime all closing in quickly. As the lead pack soon bunched up, the bumpers would go in and Shevill and Kidd would drop back, whilst the more established drivers used their experience to come through.
Cole Ford and Dean Heeps weren’t too far away from the lead battle neither, and made progress as the front pack continued to exchange blows and as the laps wore on, the front back soon became larger with these two tagging on as well.
The final few laps saw Rachel Kidd get involved as well, though, being a lap down, she lent a big hit on to Rubens Millar with a couple of laps to go, before Dougie Kidd pushed Dean Heeps hard on the last lap, allowing Cole Ford to take 3rd position, with the top two spots occupied by Rhys Kelly and Kerr Paterson ahead.
The ProStocks had another excellent meeting with good car numbers once more. The nudge and spin class has been one of the highlights of the year, with consistently hard fought on track action.
Saturday was no exception, with more thrills and spills. Heat 1 saw some major drama though, with almost half the pack caught up in a pile up on the home straight and into turn 1, depleting the car numbers somewhat for the remainder of the race.
John Mason, Ian Christie and John Jackson were all caught up in a ‘train’ style crash. Paul Barron took full advantage of the depleted field as he took the race win, hanging on after a last bend attempt from Dougie Kidd who looked quicker throughout the race. Chris Mack has found his pace now after a steady start to the season.
The 76 pilot has taken away an excellent number of points over the last couple of meetings, with another race win going his way in heat 2 on Saturday, with Barron and Christie completing the top 3.
The meeting final saw most cars on track once more, and this time, it would be Lewis Gilchrist that took the final win – his 2nd final victory in successive weeks, Dougie Kidd and Paul Barron completed the top 3.
The CC Rods were the final formula in attendance – the ‘non- contact’ formula certainly had it’s fair share of drama on Saturday, with a few coming togethers throughout the evening.
A difficult track didn’t help things though, with some oil and anti-freeze left over following previous races. Heat 1 saw Craig Mason take his first win of the season ahead of Alun Gregory and Kevin Hutchison.
Heat 2 saw a few cars crash out during it through a number of reasons – though, the majority could be put down to racing incidents. Brian Allen wasn’t hanging about though and took the first of his two wins. John Gorman and Alec Cunningham completed the top 3.
Brian Allen went on to claim the victory in the meeting final having held off Craig Mason and Ian Christie for long spells during the race – the two wins will see Allen move up a grade ahead of the next meeting for the formula at the end of the month.
This Saturday, we are back in action with a 5pm start time. The Ministox APEX Garden Rooms Scottish Championship, the Ninja Kart British Championship, Stock Rods, Classic Hot Rods and 2.0 Hot Rods are all set to feature.
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