SATURDAY night was a night for the youngsters to shine and take centre stage as both the Ninja Karts and Ministox battled it out for some major championships at Lochgelly Raceway.

The Ninja Karts saw 34 of the top drivers from throughout England, Scotland and Ireland descend upon the venue as they battled it out for their British Championship.

A new winner was a certainty, with the reigning champion ruled out having reached the upper age limit of the formula. Each driver would contest two qualifying heats each to determine their starting positions for the main race at the end of the evening.

A pre-meeting draw would determine the starting positions for each of the qualifying heats and the opening heat of the night saw the race go almost flag-to-flag – although, there was one stoppage for the spun kart of 317, Rowdy Grattan, early in the race, though, he did get away moving just as the yellows came out.

English driver, George Cooper, took the victory in the race ahead of Scotland’s Rory Wilson and England’s Jenson Jackson.

Heat 2 would see another excellent race from the youngsters, with a race caution midway through, following Henry Hunn spinning on turn 4 and spectacularly being collected by 666 Alfie MacLeod, with the MacLeod kart becoming airborne as a result. Both drivers walked away though.

As the race resumed, it was Jaxon York that led the way with a fantastic battle behind him between Keegan Turtle and Rory Wilson for 2nd place – both drivers racing side-by-side for several laps, allowing the pack behind to close up.

Turtle had the inside line, with Wilson on the outside, and this remained the case for the remainder of the race –with Wilson getting 2nd place by less than 0.02 seconds, ahead of Turtle, with Jaxon York racing clear to take the victory.

Heat 3 was the final qualifying heat of the night, and it was a race that did go flag- to-flag, with some excellent battles throughout. Northern Ireland’s Lewis Hazlett took the victory in this one ahead of Scotland’s Tommy Melrose and England’s Tommy Cooper. The points would be tallied up, and the grid formed for the British Championship race. Hazlett and Wilson found themselves on the front row, with Weston, Melrose, Turtle etc all following closely just behind.

As the green flags dropped for the first time with less than a full racing lap completed by everyone, a pile up of karts on turn 1 led to a near track blockage and a red flag and a complete restart. The grid was re-formed, and it was 2nd time lucky as the drivers got away a bit better this time.

Up front, a coming together saw Wilson clip the Hazlett car, sending both cars out of the race with Hazlett spinning and Wilson clattering the wall as a result, with George Cooper moving into the lead of the race.

A race caution saw the drivers checked over and the race resuming in single file order. Cooper and Weston found themselves tangle early on, as the race got going again, with both drivers dropping back as a result.

This enabled a move into the lead of the race with Keegan Turtle and Bobby Aldridge in 2nd and 3rd, with Jaxon York just behind. Melrose opened up a lead over the next few laps to several kart lengths, whilst Turtle, Aldridge and York battled it out over 2nd place.

A race caution would close the pack up though once more, with Melrose leading the way from Aldridge still. With the pack close together once more, York soon moved into 2nd place overcoming Turtle and Alrdige, whilst keeping those behind at bay.

A three way battle between Melrose, Aldrige and York followed, with Alrdrige moving into the lead of the race at one stage. York made a move to the outside whilst Melrose fought for a move on the inside, and it was York that soon moved into the front, quickly followed by Melrose once more.

York and Melrose soon began a two-way battle for the lead, whilst Aldridge faced some pressure from those behind. York looked to have the beating of Melrose but Melrose was never far away, and on the last lap, he moved back into the lead of the race as they moved down the back straight with back markers approaching fast ahead of them.

Melrose got stuck on the outside, whilst a gap opened up on the inside allowing York to move through once more to take the British Championship ahead of Melrose. Henry Hunn moved into third place in the closing stages after a brilliant drive from near the back of the grid, with Turtle, Jackson and Aldrige all following closely!

The APEX Garden Buildings Ministox Scottish Championship saw 2 reverse grid heats followed by the Scottish Championship race.

Heat 1 saw a few yellow flags along the way – firstly for Shaun Boyle who looked to have lost a wheel, and latterly from Rachel Kidd, who had clattered the wall on turn 1 and 2. North of Scotland driver, Rhys Kelly, took the win in the opening race ahead of Charlie Hardie and Hamish Plenderleith.

Heat 2 saw another hard fought race with cars spinning out throughout, whilst drivers battled their way through the field. Hamish Plenderleith claimed victory in this race ahead of reigning Scottish Champion, Oliver Heron, with Kelly finishing in 3rd position from the back of the grid.

The Scottish Championship grid saw Kelly on the front row, and he got away well. Hamish Plenderleith and Charlie Hardie had a good battle in the early stages, with Plenderleith catching the kerb whilst challenged by Hardie – a yellow flag was called for following an on-track incident.

During this stoppage, Plenderleith retired to the infield with a puncture and the race would resume with Kelly up front. Hardie and Kelly had very little between them and it looked like Kelly had the pace to match Hardie, with Hardie sitting just behind him.

A few laps in, and Hardie was on the bumper of Kelly and got some driver on the 339 car, and turned Kelly to the infield and down the order as a result. Hardie led the race thereafter, and never looked like being caught, whilst Kelly rejoined and aimed to make up as much ground as possible. Oliver Heron took 2nd place behind Hardie, with Ollie Sime and Rhys Kelly finishing in third and fourth.

The Stock Rods saw race wins go the way of Raymond Brown and Robbie Armit in the heats, before Armit took victory in the meeting final, despite some intense pressure from Dean and lee McGill.

The Classic Hot Rods welcomed a couple of English visitors in the shape of James Owen and Alfie Johnson, with Owen looking quick throughout the night, coming away with some great results on his first visit to the track.

Cameron Willacy appeared in the ex-Keith Chesher car and looked to find his feet relatively comfortably in it too – Zak Murdock and Kenny Purdie took the wins in the heats, with Purdie taking the final ahead of Adam Low and Zak Murdoch.

The 2.0 Hot Rods saw Allan Gibson take victory in each of the two heats, before Keith Brown took the win in the meeting final.