The Racewall - Sunday 2nd September 2018

On Sunday the weather was a lot kinder, and with the track dry the racing was faster than the night before.

BriSCA F2 Stock Cars

The opening race of the programme for the F2s was the F2 Nationals Championship.  At the start of the afternoon, the F2 drivers featured on the Grand Parade, during which time they selected their grid position in the random draw, and this put 217 Craig Reid on pole.  The race endured a false start when 922 Pete Davidson‘s car wouldn’t fire up, and as 16 Craig Wallace gave him a push the grid order became ragged.  At the second time of asking, the race got underway and 901 Ian Thompson shot from grid three and into the lead.  24 Jon Palmer spun in the turnstile bend which led to an early race suspension.  Thompson now had 647 Chris Burgoyne, 3 Liam Rennie and 7 Gordon Moodie in close order and when the race resumed Moodie climbed to third.  Burgoyne closed the gap to Thompson and edged past to take the lead, and by the time Moodie had done similar Burgoyne had built a sizeable lead.  As the race progressed, Moodie began to cut down Burgoyne’s lead, and whilst the racing was not action-packed, it was compelling to see the two star drivers smoothly speed their way around the Racewall.  Into the final quarter of the race, the gap between the leaders was about a car’s length.  There was little to choose between them, and as Burgoyne took the last lap board, the question was whether Moodie felt he was close enough to mount a last bend challenge.  Burgoyne and Moodie sped down the back straight, but entering turn three Moodie was just a little too far away to launch at the 647 car.  As the chequered flag was readied, Burgoyne shot off the fourth bend, and flashed across the finish line to win the F2 Nationals title for a third time.  Moodie was close, very close, in second and Thompson held on for third.  The next race was a heat which saw Scrimgeour take the lead within a couple of laps.  Even though he was challenged initially by Sime, it was Moodie who came through strongly in the closing stages.  However Scrimgeour was too far gone and he duly collected the chequered.  The Nostalgia Trophy final was led by Davidson, but he was soon replaced at the front by Scrimgeour.  As the race reached half distance Scrimgeour was being chased by Dawson, whilst Moodie had moved into third.  Dawson then hit the front, as Scrimgeour fell back to third.  Although Moodie got close, he was unable to challenge Dawson who sealed the victory, with Moodie and Scrimgeour in second and third.  Having amassed a trio of runner-up finishes, Moodie finally charged through for a win in the GN.

Saloon Stock Cars

Ahead of the ORCi Championship race, eleven drivers gridded for the Last Chance Qualifying race, which 8 Holly Glen led until a race suspension after 45 Eck Cunningham had been spun into the tyres and came to rest on the entrance to the pit bend.  670 Ross Watters hit the front when the race resumed, and went on to win from 501 Ally Strachan and Honeyman.  Having earned pole position, 38 Barry Glen made the most of things to lead the pack away, with 399 Cole Atkins slotting in behind ahead of 661 Graeme Shevill and 730 Deane Mayes.  Just two laps into the race, yellow flags were called to clear some debris off the track.  Glen again settled into the lead when the race resumed, but behind him Atkins, Shevill, Mayes, 600 Barry Russell and 349 Michael Allard squabbled for second place.  All the while the laps ticked away, and as the order behind him was continually shuffled, Glen remained clear of the chasing pack.  Indeed, at one stage Glen had extended his lead over Mayes and Allard who had finally established themselves in second and third.  With five laps to run, Glen was still clear but Mayes had Allard looking for a way past.  219 Luke Grief exited the race as did 747 Matty Stirling.  The home fans were beginning to sense a Scottish win as Glen reeled off the remaining laps, and he was still comfortably clear out front.  Allard forced his way ahead of Mayes at the start to the last lap but could not get clear of him.  Glen rounded the pit bend and as he crossed the line to clinch a sensational victory, up went the Cowdenbeath roar.  The drama was still unfolding behind him, though.  Mayes launched his challenge at Allard, which sent him crashing into the wall.  As Mayes slipped through for second, Allard fought to control his car and was clipped by Shevill who stole third from him just a short distance from the line.  Unfortunately, whilst it was a euphoric time for Glen, all was not well with Allard, who was in some distress in his car, which had stopped just short of crossing the line.  Eventually Allard was removed from his car and taken to hospital.  The Jim Purdie Memorial Trophy race was led for almost the whole race by white grader 301 Raymond Dick.  With the crowd cheering on the underdog, Dick was his lead vanish three laps from home when 107 Marc Honeyman caught and passed him.  Honeyman went on to win with 620 Aaryn Triggs relegating Dick to third on the penultimate lap.  Watters then ended the meeting with a win in the Allcomers race, as he led home 641 Willie Skoyles Jnr and 207 Greg Honeyman.

Stock Rods

Continuing from the previous evening, two further reverse grid heats for the Scottish Open Championship were contested, and each were won by Northern Irish drivers.  924 Andrew Morrow took the first of them and 10 Niall McFerran was victorious in the second, which included a spectacular engine blow up for 83 Michael Bethune.  When the points were tallied from the two Saturday heats and the two Sunday heats, McFerran had earned himself pole position for a race that doubled with the Michael Hastie Memorial Trophy.  McFerran duly led the field away and initially Morrow slipped in behind with 17 Stephen McCready in third.  Morrow was delayed by a spinning car, and McCready capitalised to move into second.   However, despite McCready’s best efforts, he could not overhaul McFerran who held on victory.  With McCready and 268 Kurtis Reid in second and third, there was an all Northern Irish top three.