Knockhill Racing Circuit played host to an interesting and intriguing weekend of Scottish Championship Car racing, with drama, controversy and post race bust-ups.
The drama began to unfold midway through the morning when the first Mini race of the day produced 81 complaints. In the interest of safety, and to stem the frequency of excursions off track, drivers were advised they would be sanctioned with time penalties should failure to meet driving standards continue.
Some believed that the sanctions proposed were harsh and that extremely tricky driving conditions had led to the majority of the reported incidents. With a mixture of hail, snow, rain and sun causing driving condition to change rapidly. However, as the day progressed, fewer incidents emerged and the focus switched back to racing.
In the Scottish Formula Ford Championship, Coleraine racer Ivor Mairs was looking to hold onto his Championship lead. Mairs finished the opening race in 7th spot, behind eventual winner Alistair Dow, Ross McEwen came second with Andrew Brennan securing third. Young Queensferry racer, Michael Gray had celebrated the third place finish immediately after the race, only for a 5 second penalty to push him into fourth.
Heading into race two later in the day, Mairs still, unbelievably, held on to the Championship lead and when quizzed whether he could maintain it, he joked:
“Absolutely… not, I will hold onto it for the next ten minutes or so though.”
In an incident packed race, it was Glasgow’s Ross McEwen who held out for the win. He had to fend off the hard charging Gronkowski, who had started at the back of the grid and the determined Dow, who was trying to make up for a spin earlier in the race.
Another 7th place finish for Mairs, still leaves him in contention with second slot in the championship standings.
The Celtic Speed Mini Cooper Cup races saw the podium spoils shared between 5 different drivers. In race one, dubbed ‘Minigate’ by some of the commentary team, saw David Sleigh cross the line in front of Steven Clark with Kyle Reid in third. Reid went onto secure second spot in race two, just behind Steven Brewster with the other Sleigh brother, Tim taking the third podium slot. The race had to be restarted following a collision between two cars at the hairpin. The participants of the post-race bust up remain undisclosed at present, but no-doubt, in the cold light of day, reconciliations will be made.
In the Classic Sports and Saloons Championship there were two on-the-road victories for Andrew Smith in his Morgan Plus 8, two second positions for Barry Riddell and third place finishes for both Raymond Boyd and Stan Bernard.
Scottish Sports and Saloons saw two race wins for Stewart Whyte in his Escort Cosworth, two second places for defending Champion, Garry Waston and the third place spoils were shared between Cameron Purdie and David Headen.
Other on-the-road podium scorers today included:
Legends: Ross Marshall (4), David Hunter (2), Paul O’Brien (2), David Newall (2), Robbie Burgoyne (1) and the unfortunate Carol Brown who went through 3 engines during a weekend to forget (1).
Fiestas: Andrew Allen (2), Scott Roberston (2) and Dave Colville (2)
Northern Sports & Saloons: Stephen Kell (1st), Mike Williamson (2nd), Tony Allison (3rd)
All SMRC race results can be found via the following link: SMRC race results
The next motorsport action at Kockhill, comes in the shape of the MSA British Rallycross Championship on Saturday 12th May from 1pm to 8pm. Tickets available via the above link or can be purchased on the gate.
Until next time! Images from this weekend can be found here!