IT has been another action packed stock car season at the Cowdenbeath Racewall and whilst the highlights were obviously the Saloon and Stock Rod World finals there were other very notable meetings, writes our Racewall reporter Jim Turner.

Over the season there were a few rollovers thrown in to keep the fans happy, plus numerous shunts and spins resulting in a few drivers left unhappy about the proceedings.

For some unexplained reason a Scottish driver won the Unlimited Banger World Cup! The last time that happened was back in 1997, when Hoagy Wallace triumphed but since then the English drivers have dominated.

This year there was again a big field of cars, but it was Sean Riddell who won despite a couple of English drivers trying their hardest to wreck him and he had to survive quite a few attempts as they tried a few head on crashes which he managed to dodge.

Saloon driver John Gogg, winner of track points for second successive season.Saloon driver John Gogg, winner of track points for second successive season. (Image: Contributed)

Brian Youngson, later in the season, won the Scottish Championship whilst Jamie Sangster won the Micro Banger Supreme championship.

There was some cracking racing in the Formula IIs although in the World Final it was Luke Wrench who won down at Taunton. Unfortunately, Gordon Moodie, Chris Burgoyne and Liam Rennie were early casualties and the only Scottish driver to finish was Steven Burgoyne who ended up in eighth place!

Chris Burgoyne won the European Championship and Jason McDonald the Irish Open Championship, at Nutts Corner.

At the Racewall Charlie Faichney was the new face, whilst Euan Millar was back in action after a six year absence. Regular visitors were Tom Bennett, Aaron Vaight, Kyle Taylor and Richard Walden.

John Hogg was consistent throughout the year and retained the track points Championship, ending the season on a high winning the James Clarke Cochrane Memorial Trophy on the penultimate day of the season.

There were World Championship qualifying rounds early in the season, the first at Crimond on the Saturday which was won by Moodie, whilst the following day S. Burgoyne made the better of the starts before carving his way through the field to win collected the Jim Clark Trophy to boot.

Millar won a thrilling Scottish Championship, a title he last won in 2018, whilst the following day Moodie charged through the field to win the Mac 100 Trophy.

The Turner Trophy ended in the hands of Jason Blacklock whilst Moodie collected the Grand National Championship on the last day of the season, the Chapman Trophy as well as the Alan Hastie Cuthill Memorial Trophy - plenty of polishing to do!

The white/ yellow series final saw Brian Hogg Jnr come out on top after a race-long dice with Walden and it was only during the closing laps that he managed to dive through and take the lead..

With the Formula II World Final at the Racewall next year we can expect to attract quite a few visiting drivers heading north to get as much practice as possible.

The highlight of the Saloon season was without doubt the World Final at the end of August. The track was packed and the atmosphere electric and when the “driver start your engine” command was given you could hear the roar of the crowd over the noise of the engines! The race itself was something else with Archie Brown getting the better of Stuart Shevill Jnr on the very last bend to win.

There were a few new faces in the Saloons with Stuart Adsley and Kalin Bryson whilst Boab Low returned and Taylor Borthwick and Nicole Russell switched from other formulae. There was a return to action for Raymond Dick after a couple of seasons on the sidelines.

Shevill Jnr had a good season though, winning the Scottish Championship for the fifth time, but he didn’t have the best of grid draws. However, he made good progress and then caught the leader, Ian McLaughlin. A nudge sent the McLaughlin car wide allowing Shevill Jnr through to win. Shevill Jnr went on to claim the track and the GMP National Points as well as the National Points Series, thus racing with the silver roof in 2025.

Brown won the Raymond Gunn tribute race whilst Zak Gilmour won the Superbowl and the Turner Trophy. Tam Rutherford Jnr won the Gordon Barclay Memorial Trophy on the last day of the season, Barry Russell the Ian Gray Memorial Trophy with Cammy Deans coming out on top in the final of the white/yellow challenge series.

Three weeks after the Saloon ‘World’ it was the Stock Rods who had the golden roof up for grabs. On the day it was Cammy Doak who won diving through into the lead after a race restart. Although pushed by the defending champion, Samuel Montgomery, he went on to win, helped when Montgomery’s car started to misfire. Doak later went on to win the Scottish Championship and also came out on top in the GMP National and track points.

The Gordon Ross Memorial Trophy went to Michael Bethune, the Simon Laing to Jamie Dawson whilst Derek Conner was the Turner Trophy winner.

The youngsters in the Ministox continued to entertain with the drivers not afraid to use their bumpers.

Lana Middler and Halle Wishaw were the new faces whilst amongst those who reached retirement age were Robbie Scott and Kerr Paterson - the latter winning the East Lincolnshire Championship at Skegness before he retired.

Oliver Heron was the winner of the GMP National and track points as well as the Easter Trophy but he too had to retire.

David Philp Jnr Jnr won the ORCi Championship, at Taunton, and then on home ground won the East of Scotland Championship and the Scrutineers Challenge Shield. Hamish Plenderleith won the Kier Millar Memorial Trophy, Rhys Anderson ended the season on a high, picking up the Turner Trophy, Ollie Sime the Racing for Ramsay Shield, Scott the RGM Thistle Trophy and Ethan Gemmell the Sharpies Trophy.

There was some close dicing in the Prostock Basics between Colin Ogilvie and Liam Boyle with the former winning the GMP National Points whilst Boyle took the track points.

There are rumblings that Ogilvie is heading to the Saloons but only time will tell.

New faces were Zoe Stewart and Lindsey Lonie whilst James and John Paton switched from the Prostocks and Harry Adams returned. The Basics gave a good account of themselves on track with quite a bit of close racing – without contact, although some did take place, which augers well for the 2025 season.

It is hard to believe that the drivers in the Micro F2s are aged between 7 and 11 years of age!

Of the trophies up for grabs, two newcomers Rogan Richards won the Stars of the Future Trophy and Jaxson Watters the ‘Turner’ whilst “old” hand Corey Mathers claimed the Scottish Cup at Crimond. There was some cracking racing involving Mathers, Oakley Grief and Rhys Walker, whilst later in the year Harry Yule, Evah Adsley and Evie McLellan began chalking up good results.

The main thing is most of the drivers finish their races with big smiles on their faces irrespective of where they finish the race, Unfortunately, there will be a couple of drivers heading up to the Ministox next season and hopefully a few coming in to claim their places.

The Prostock races were mainly dominated by Paul Barron, who won the Scottish Champion and the track points title. There was the odd occasion that he was given a run for his money and that was either by Dean McGill or Lewis Gilchrist.

There were visits to the Racewall by the Classic Hot Rods, the Hot Saloons and the Senior and Junior StoxKarts and hopefully they will return in 2025.

Elsehere, the Formula IIs were in action at the Odsal shale track, in Bradford, on a dry but chilly Saturday evening.

Scottish interest in the Formula IIs centered around the Racewall's Windygates driver, Gordon Moodie, in a 29 car field.

The race format gave the drivers two heats, a final then a Grand National.

Moodie raced in heats two and three where he was fourth in his first outing, before winning his next race.

In the final Moodie made short work of moving through the field before stamping his authority on proceedings before recording an easy win.

Despite his lap handicap at the start to the Grand National Moodie's charge saw him end up in sixth place.

The Formula 1 National Points Series was won by World Champion, Tom Harris, from Frankie Wainman Jnr and Lee Fairhurst.

The following day Moodie raced at the Buxton track and whilst he didn't figure in the opening heat he picked up fourth places in both heat then the final.

To round off a good weekend's racing Moodie won the Grand National before heading home.