Action at Cowdenbeath Racewall

Jun 10 2008

THERE was no shortage of action at the Cowdenbeath Racewall on Saturday night, with Dave Pannett riding the wall in his Formula II and ending up rolling the car a couple of times.

Garry Sime and Lee McGill crashed out in their Formula IIs on oil, while there were a couple of other shunts along the way.

Marc Fortune went through to win the Ministox Scottish Championship – and Jason McAlpine hit the wall hard on more than one occasion.

Billy Bonnar crashed into the back straight wall, damaging his hot rod.

There were 26 Formula II drivers, including locals Garry Sime (Newtyle), Gavin Millar (Blairgowrie), Gary Coffey (Abernethy), Steve Donavan (Perth) and Holly Glen (Inchture).

Heat one saw Chris Burgoyne go through to win from Paul Ford and John Fortune, with Coffey in fifth place.

In heat two, Robbie Dawson came out on top, winning from Lee McGill and Fortune, with Millar in sixth.

McGill was leading when the final started but on lap eight disaster struck when he hit an oil slick and crashed, joined soon on the sidelines by Garry Sime.

The new leader was Dawson and he had Burgoyne challenging for the lead but Dawson managed to pick up a good win.

McGill led the Grand National from start to finish, to win from Ford and Burgoyne, with Coffey eighth and Dawson ending up in 10th.

There were 23 saloon drivers at the track, with heat one seeing Stuart Shevill, jnr, go through to win from Chris Lattka and Frankie Cunningham.

Heat two saw Shevill jun. again come out on top, this time winning from Ian Jarman and Shaun Webster.

Barry Russell led the field away but Lattka was soon through into the lead.

Over the closing stages he was passed by both Shevill jun. and Cunningham, with the latter taking the lead, with two laps remaining, to win from Shevill jun. and Webster.

The hot rod drivers were in good form, with heat one going to Pete McVay, who won from Ian Donaldson and James Jamieson.

Karl Price then went through to win heat two from McVay and Jamieson.

However, it was Jamieson who charged through to win the final from McVay and Donaldson.

There was a good turn out of ministox for their Scottish Championship, including locals Lyndsey Clyne (Tealing), Ryan Forbes (Stanley) and Ryan Muirhead (Perth).

The race was suspended on the opening lap when Gemma Russell was sent spinning on the main straight. When restarted, Marc Fortune was the leader.

On the restart, he had Ryan Forbes on his back bumper, with Ross Watters being bounced off the wall soon afterwards.

On lap 10, the yellows were out after Siobhan Martin was sent spinning out on the main straight.

Again Fortune led the field away, with Forbes apparently glued to his back bumper.

Kyle Irvine lost third to Kevin Morrison and at the flag it was Fortune who retained the lead to become the new Scottish champion from Forbes and Morrison with Clyne seventh.

Next heat, Watters won from Fortune and Morrison and Forbes in fifth. Heat two ended with Laura Sharp winning from Martin and Weir with Forbes in seventh and Clyne 10th.

This weekend is one of the major events of the season – the visit of the mighty Formula I cars.

Last season, Andy Smith won the Scottish Championship at the Racewall but will have to be at his best to retain his title.

At press-time, there were 36 drivers booked in, including Gordon Moodie racing in both the Formula Is and Formula IIs.

Both formulae are racing in World Championship qualifying rounds on Saturday night at the Racewall and on Sunday at Knockhill.

The hot rods are the other formula racing on Sunday when they contest their World Cup.

It’s a 6pm start at the Racewall and a 1pm start at Knockhill.