IT was only the second Friday night event of the season, at Lochgelly Raceway, and it was another great night of racing with large grids of cars and plenty of hard, fast and eventful racing, writes our Raceway correspondent, Kevin McQueen.

The ORCi Ministox started the night off with a lap of honour to Mason Sealy, who was confirmed as the 2024 British Champion just before the meeting got underway, having finished second in last week’s race at Crimond.

A last minute effort from the team saw them able to get some black and white checks onto the roof before the first race of the night!

Dean Heeps made his final Lochgelly appearance in the Ministox, before he reaches the upper age limit in the formula and making the switch into Stock Rods.

The racing itself was fantastic, with just under 30 cars taking to the track in each of the races, with a few hard shunts along the way. Dougie Kidd and Cole Ford both found themselves with fair impacts during the night, with both drivers going though some work required on the cars.

Ben McLellan hasn’t done a lot of racing at Lochgelly this year, but when he has, he has delivered, and Saturday was much the same as he stormed to another race win in the opening heat.

Behind Ben, it was at trio of English drivers, with Cody Bradford and Mason Sealy rounding out the top three.

Heat two was another lively affair with plenty of pushing and shuvving throughout the race, with the star graded drivers finding it difficult to make up ground on some very quick lower graded drivers. Austin Farrell took the race win ahead of Cole Ford.

The meeting final saw a couple of incidents, with a race stoppage for Dougie Kidd who found himself embedded in the wall and unable to get free. A single file restart bunched the pack up and gave the star graded drivers the opportunity to close up and put pressure on some of the lesser experienced youngsters.

Rhys Kelly, who currently tops the Lochgelly track championship took another fine win with the fastest lap in the process in the final, with Stuart Shevill and Alfie Flecken finishing second and third respectively.

Jack Jones made his first outing in the Ministox at Lochgelly having moved up from Ninja Karts recently, and didn’t look out of place scoring a few good points along the way. Lana Middler made her Lochgelly debut in the formula as well, and she drove steadily all night, keeping out of trouble and getting some valuable track experience.

The U Pull It 1300 Stock Cars saw around 25 cars in action throughout the night, with Grant Barker making his debut, whilst Scott Smith made an outing in the Brant West car. Luke Gordon was a welcome visitor though didn’t have much in the way of good fortune throughout the night.

Jamie Stewart is the in-form driver at the moment, notching up consistent podium finishes and the 188 pilot took yet another victory in the opening heat on Saturday, overcoming Ryan Muirhead in the closing laps to take the win.

Callum Sturrock hasn’t done as much racing as he would probably have hoped for this season, but will be happy to be showing some good form. The yellow graded driver raced to a commanding victory in heat two, with Scott Smith and Craig Haxton finishing in second and third places.

The meeting final was another hard-hitting race with the star graded drivers having to work to come through the field. Dean Sievwright is probably having the best season of his career so far, and took a fantastic final win on Friday. Jamie Stewart finished second behind him, with Blair Robertson finishing third. Blair is another driver that will be happy to see some good form having had a poor run during the 2024 season to date.

The CC Rods were the final formula in attendance with a good turnout of cars. The ‘non-contact’ class seen some excellent racing in the opening heats, with drivers racing hard, but on the most part, within the rules of the formula.

Some hard fought battles throughout the grid saw John Downs take the opportunity to break clear and take his first win in the formula, ahead of Ian Donaldson and Natalie Mason. Heat two was another good race with an excellent drive from Ian Christie to take the win from the rear of the grid, finishing ahead of Lee Livingston and Gregor Whyte.

Gregor Whyte is arguably the in-form driver in the formula and will fancy his chances for the Scottish Championship in a couple of week’s time, as he raced to victory in the meeting final. Alec Cunningham and Alun Gregory completed the top three.

The race was smeared though following a big impact between Ian Donaldson and Kevin Hutchison, with Donaldson being seen as at fault following the coming together which saw both cars substantially damaged.