Wilson at the Double

Race Results: Saturday 16th March

CC Rods
Heat 1: 170, 11, 207, 337, 6, 703, 195, 76
Heat 2: 207, 11, 6, 170, 337, 195, 703, 369, 76
Final: 207, 6, 170, 337, 11, 703, 195, 369

Stock Rods
Heat 1: 84, 183, 363, 263, 700, 248, 27, 25, 11, 338
Heat 2: 84, 700, 263, 194, 289, 363, 352, 183, 25, 248
Final: 263, 363, 27, 84, 289, 100, 25, 248, 352, 750

Superstox
Heat 1: 446, 453, 128, 34, 319, 99, 54, 28
Heat 2: 446, 128, 453, 34, 319, 54, 99, 28
Final: 446, 453, 34, 319, 128, 99, 54

U Pull It 1300 Stock Cars
Heat 1: 42, 357, 67, 411, 610, 668, 638, 38, 126, 75
Heat 2: 610, 357, 42, 638, 668, 411, 113, 67, 75, 16
Final: 42, 610, 38, 113, 668, 638, 67, 357, 411, 16

1600 Bangers
Heat 1: 227, 31, 60, 198, 390, 323, 22, 27, 246, 213
Heat 2: 267, 31, 323, 27, 198, 390, 227, 999, 246
Final: 227, 31, 27, 323, 246, 231, 22
Entertainer: 390/999 Joint

Wilson at the Double

A dry and bright Saturday afternoon turned into an extremely wet Saturday night, with the rain falling persistently from just before start time, right throughout the evening. Credit must go to the race officials and race teams for sticking it out with many soaked to bone come the end of the night.

15 races were held on Saturday without a single race stoppage – a rarity these days! The U Pull It 1300 Stock Cars were a late replacement for the Classic Hot Rods class, as they added to the on track action.

The CC Rods started the evening off in damp conditions, with the track progressively getting wetter as the race wore on. Alun Gregory continued his impressive start to the season in the formula, with another strong showing, holding off Ian Christie for a large part of the race, before Christie managed to make a move stick around the outside. Gregory did his best to stick with the 170 Ian Christie car, whilst also holding off Scottish Champion Alec Cunningham who was closing behind him. Christie took the win ahead of Gregory and Cunningham. Heat 2 seen another good performance from the 11 car of Alun Gregory – once more, leading in the early stages of the race, but with Alec Cunningham in superb form at the moment, the 207 car soon moved ahead and into the lead of the race. Cunningham seems to have found a sweetspot in his setup at the moment, and come rain or dry, he seems to be able to adapt. Gregor Whyte in the 06 car seems to fly under the radar at times, but has been steadily totting up the points with consistently good results. A 2nd place finish in the meeting final behind Alec Cunningham was another great result for Whyte, whilst race 1 winner Ian Christie completed the top 3.

The Stock Rods were out in force with over 20 cars booked to race, though a couple of late cancellations seen 20 cars take to the track on the night. 338 James Halkett made his season debut, and after showing great pace in practice, he found himself pointing the wrong way on a couple of occasions during the evening on the wet track. He wasn’t alone in finding the track conditions tough though, with numerous drivers drifting around the raceway on various occasions in each of the three races. Robbie Armit 84 started the night off perfectly, with a heat win in each of the two heats, before battling excellently with a string of competitive drivers during the meeting final. Lee McGill took the final win last time out in the class, and it was brother Dean, that took the win on Saturday night in the final, finishing just ahead of Lee on this occasion, with Scottish Champion Gary Dean completing the top three. The Stock Rod class is proving very competitive at this early stages of the season, and it will be interested to see how things materialize with a change of grades at the end of the month!

The Superstox were seen a few cancellations and no shows on the night. Dean Johnston took a hat-trick of race victories on the night, with Kenny McKenzie and Ciaran Adams having some excellent battles throughout as they races for the other positions. There was a great opportunity for a few of the less experienced drivers to get some good points on the board, with Campbell Scott and Benjamin Erskine both scoring well on the night, with Erskine beginning to get to grips with the Superstox class.

The U Pull It 1300 Stock Cars were a very late addition to the programme – only added on the Friday afternoon, yet, the drivers rallied and mustered up just shy of 20 cars on the night, which is a fantastic effort. Shaz Law has had a terrible start to life with the 1300 Stock Car, as she once more ran into issues, without completing a single racing lap. The 614 pilot will be keen to get to the bottom of the problems as she looks to get her season on track! At the other end of the spectrum, Jake Wilson, Kai McNulty and Craig Warner have all started off there 2024 campaigns in fantastic form, with Wilson taking 2 more wins on Saturday, which will see him start as a yellow grade this coming Saturday. Stuart Hall deserves some recognition for his efforts as well – a difficult debut meeting was had for him, but a 3rd place finish in the meeting final was a well deserved result after seeing his pace throughout the event. Of the more experienced drivers, only Craig Haxton would come away with a top 3 finish on the night, after racing to a 3rd place in the opening heat.

The 1600 Bangers were with us for the first time in 2024, and it was good to see a decent grid of cars take to the track, giving optimism for the season ahead. There were numerous long distance travellers from England, but none moreso than Ashley Rumary, who had a 499 mile trip to be with us! Kieran Tweed made his 2nd appearance of the year at Lochgelly, as he becomes a regular face in Scotland. There were some good hits on the night, with Dayle Linton getting stuck in when possible, whilst Michael Turner and John Paton also did there best at putting on a show. Gavin Taylor took 2 race wins, whilst Steven Adair took a race win on the night as well.

We are back in action at Lochgelly Raceway on Saturday 23rd March, with the U Pull It 1300 Stock Cars, National Hot Rods, 2.0 Hot Rods and Ninja Karts taking to the track, with a 6pm start time.

View event laptimes on Speedhive