SATURDAY at Lochgelly Raceway once more saw some fantastic stock car action on display, writes our Raceway correspondent Kevin McQueen.

The tight nature of the Raceway always ensures that the racing is close, exciting and proves challenging for the drivers. Without any visiting drivers, grids were healthy throughout the night, with a number of new drivers in some of the formula.

In the 1300 Stock Cars, we saw Stuart Hall make his debut, taking to the track for the first time in his brand new race car, whilst Gary Nicholls, Michael Stewart, Charlie Henry and Samuel Douglas all made their first outings of the season. In the Ministox, Halle Wishard made her racing debut, whilst Stuart Shevill made his first appearance in the formula after graduating from the Ninja Karts.

The ProStocks made their first appearance of the season, and it was a fantastic start for the formula. A formula that many had written off only a couple of seasons ago, is once more flourishing.

There were lots of excellently turned out cars, with Jamie Doyle, Hollie Richie, Robert Conway, Jamie George, Owen Bonner, and Becki Ritchie all standing out. A special mention to John Mason who enters his 35th season of racing, with another well-presented car.

John Jackson, raced to a great win in the opening heat of the night for the formula having overcome Grady Ross in the closing stages of the race. Heat 2 saw another great race, with Grady Ross making some early moves to once more, move the front of the pack. Ross would see the win removed from him though, due to an infringement, which saw John Jackson move up to take his 2nd win of the night, with all other drivers also moving up a place.

By the time the meeting final had came around, the track was now wet. Up front though, it was once more Grady Ross battling for the lead of the race. Grady continued to lead the way with old foe Paul Barron chasing in 2nd place. The bumpers continued to go in further back, and Grady would take the win ahead of Barron and Mark Boyle.

The ORCi Ministox raced in the first round of their 2024 JusBounce series, with the evening starting off with a whites and yellows race. The whites and yellows race would see Ollie Sime take the victory ahead of Shaun Boyle and Kevin Graham.

The first main heat of the night was another excellent race, with both David Philp and Charlie Hardie racing neck and neck with each other for the best part of the race. On the final lap of the race, David Philp made a move for the lead of the race and would take the win ahead of Hardie, with Kelly just behind.

Heat 2 saw a few cars fail to make it on to the now greasy track, and Kevin Graham led the way early on in the race, with Rhys Anderson and David Philp sitting just behind. A yellow flag caution would bunch the pack together, and within a lap, Graham had lost his lead and dropped down into 4th position. Kelly would take the win ahead of Heeps and Hardie.

The final race of the night saw the cars race on a wet track once more, and Kevin Graham took a lead of the race ahead of Jack Connor and Rhys Anderson, with Shaun Boyle in close pursuit. Graham continued the form that he had shown in the wet last week opening up a healthy advantage. Bumpers would go in but there would be no catching Kevin Graham up front though, who took another win for the season.

The National Hot Rods saw Gordon Alexander do well and saw Ross McWilliam and Ian Donaldson behind him. Just after halfway in the race, McWilliam had closed the gap to Alexander ahead, whilst Alexander battled with Robertson for 2nd place. Alexander would make the move on Robertson, with McWilliam taking full advantage of this as well, as he too made the move on Robertson in the same move. Ethan Doull would take the race victory, a couple of car lengths ahead of Alexander, with McWilliam just a few more car lengths behind.

Heat 2 would see the cars take to the track on a dry track for the final time, with Doull once more leading the way in the early stages. James Robertson had made a better start on this occasion though, and soon found himself battling with Doull for the lead of the race. Alexander soon caught Robertson ahead, but with the laps running down, he was unable to put any serious pressure onto the 252 car ahead, with Robertson taking the victory just ahead of Alexander, with Donaldson completing the top 3. The meeting final had seen the heavens open, and Ethan Doull looked like a man possessed, as he stormed to a fantastic victory.

The U-Pull-It 1300 Stock Cars were the final formula in action, with just under 25 cars taking to the track on the night. Stuart Hall soon found himself spinning in the opening laps and taking a bump over the kerbs. Samuel Douglas led the way, with Jake Wilson, Kai McNulty and Graham Campbell not too far behind. A yellow flag was called for, which the race leader appeared to miss and continue racing, resulting in a DQ! Jake Wilson led the way from the restart, and controlled things from there on.

Heat 2 had seen the rain start to fall with greasy track conditions. Once more though, this didn’t ‘dampen’ the racing, with some great action throughout. Wilson spun around Stuart Hall on the opening lap, with McNulty then putting the bumper into Wilson at the end of lap 1. Warner meanwhile had opened up a healthy lead. Behind the leaders, a fantastic race ensued, with 12 cars racing hard, bumpers would fly in, positions would be traded as the cars continued to dice for positions throughout the race. Warner would not be caught up front, with Gary Nicholls and Dany Whyte finishing 2nd and 3rd respectively come the end of the race.

The meeting final once more, was another fantastic race. Stuart Hall took the lead on the opening lap, but a yellow flag for the stricken Graham Campbell car would see the pack closed up on the restart. Hegg would move the 42 car wide with just 1 lap to go, but this allowed 668 to close in, and the three cars with 42 a sandwich between, went into last corner of the race bumper to bumper. Hegg found himself pushed wide, with Clark taking full advantage, moving from 4th up to 2nd, crossing the line narrowly ahead of Hegg and Wilson. Warner would be demoted from the race win, with Fraser Clark taking the win by the narrowest of margins in the end.

We are back at Lochgelly Raceway this Saturday, with the 1600 Rookie Bangers, Classic Hot Rods, Superstox, CC Rods and Stock Rods all taking to the track, with a 5.45pm start time.