THIS was the last stock car meeting, at the Cowdenbeath Racewall, prior to the holiday break and it turned out to be an interesting meeting, with the weather dry and the track fast and the racing exciting in more ways than one, writes our Racewall reporter Jim Turner.
Sam Forster rolled his Micro F2 on the turnstile bend and whilst he was helped out of his car by the paramedics, he was a bit shaken but thankfully unhurt Lewis Burgoyne and Chris Chance saw final victories evaporate when both were leading the Formula II and ORCi Stock Rods respectively, when they encountered engine problems. Graham Osborne though hit a problem during practice when an oil seal failed and he was left to spectate!
Amongst those in the Formula IIs were Paul Moss and Josh Weare and from the South West, Jason McDonald was having his first outing since his Irish Open Championship success, whilst Gordon Moodie and Liam Rennie were back after having been in action South of the border.
Making their first outings of the season were Gregor Turner and Colin Forbes. John Hogg was using the chassis that Josh Walton had previously raced.
It was Forbes who led the field away when the first heat started, but within four laps Paul Reid had taken over at the front of the field. However, Chris Burgoyne was making light work of progressing through the field and he went on to win from Aaron Vaight and Craig Wallace.
Although Forbes was the initial heat two leader, he was soon caught by Lewis Burgoyne who had Reid in close order. C. Burgoyne made a slow start and dropped places. Soon Aaron Vaight and Craig Wallace were dicing for second and whilst they were making up ground the leader was clear. Towards the close Wallace moved into second, but during the closing laps Moodie moved into third. L. Burgoyne was the winner from Wallace and Moodie.
The final turned out to be a hard luck story for L. Burgoyne who had a decent lead in the final, only for his engine to cry enough and he coasted out of the lead. Reid had got the race underway, but after half a dozen laps L. Burgoyne was leading with Weare in third. Wallace was running ahead of C. Burgoyne and reeling in those ahead. Towards the closing stages Wallace inherited the lead after L. Burgoyne retired, but Moodie forced his way ahead of C. Burgoyne to finish in second and just ahead of C. Burgoyne.
Reid was the early Grand National leader, but he lost out to Vaight who led until the closing stages, when Moodie sailed through and on to his first win of the night. Rennie was the runner-up from C. Burgoyne with Wallace in tenth spot.
The ORCi Stock Rods saw John McAllister having his first run of the season. The Stock Rod drivers are now gearing up to their World Championship in September so the Stock Rod racing was fast and there was a lot of close dicing with drivers swapping places on a regular basis.
The opening race was all about some close and exciting racing. David Dignan beat his brother Jordan away from the start line and eased away. Chris Chance was to move into second after a few laps. Derek Conner, Cammy Doak and Michael Bethune were running nose to tail, and slowly making their way through the field but there was nothing to separate them. D. Dignan went on to win from Chance and Bailey McKinnon, but there was some close racing as the drivers bunched up behind them.
The Dignans were the first to show, with Jordan leading David although next time around they had swapped places. J. Dignan then spun out of second with Chance now leading the chase. Further back Conner, Jamie Dawson and Bethune were running nose to tail. Stewart Paterson moved into second during the closing stages but by then D. Dignan was well clear and he went onto pick up his second win of the night, where he led home Paterson and Doak.
J. Dignan led the pack away with Chance in second and D. Dignan third. Next time around Chance was the leader and slowly easing away from D. Dignan. Paterson moved into third whilst behind Dawson spun out of fifth.
McAllister and Bethune were running nose to tail and making up places in the process. Then with three laps remaining Chance retired, handing the lead to D. Dignan and despite Doak reeling him in held on for his third win of the night. Doak was a close runner-up, with Paterson third.
There was a decent turn out of Prostock drivers, where Paul Barron was again the driver they all needed to catch.
It took Lewis Gilchrist only a couple of laps to get ahead in the opening heat and once clear simply drove away to an easy win. Paul Barron came through to finish in second just ahead of Callum McIvor.
Chris Mack was the early heat two leader from Grady Ross and McIvor, but it was Barron who was making most progress. In the end Barron drove through the field to win from Mack and McIvor.
Mack was the first to show when the final started, but after a couple of laps Gilchrist had dived inside to lead and then simply drove away from the field. Ross then took over second but was slowly being caught by Barron. Gilchrist was almost the length of the straight clear when he crossed the finish line ahead of Barron and Ross.
Naomi Bain was having her first outing since she won the Micro F2 Irish Open, at Nutts Corner last weekend, whilst Jake Ramage was having a run in the hire car Iona Sibbald led the cars away for the first heat but quickly lost out to Evah Adsley who led until the closing stages.
Making inroads through the field were Oakley Grief and Corey Mathers, and on the last lap they swept past. Grief held on to win from Mathers and Adsley.
Heat two saw Emily Forster lead the cars away, but a couple of laps later Adsley was ahead and pulling away. Whilst Rhys Walker moved into second, he could do nothing about the leader and finished in second ahead of Bain.
The final heat had only run a couple of laps before it was stopped, after Sam Forster had a big roll after bouncing off the turnstile bend. Adsley was the leader at the time and the field lined up behind her for the restart, and whilst she led for most of the time from Evie McLellan, in the end Mathers managed to get ahead with only a couple of laps remaining before going through to win from Adsley and Grief, with McLellan the driver of the day.
The Racewall will be quiet until July27 when the action restarts to a very busy and exciting second part to the season. At the Racewall there are World Championships for Saloons and Stock Rods coupled to a few Scottish Championships.
Down south, over the holiday break, there is the National Hot Rod World Final at Ipswich then the UK Championships at Skegness. Hopefully there will be titles coming home to Scotland.
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