The festivities at Knockhill for the August SMRC
meeting got under way with the Smartycar.com Mini Coopers. The
first race saw the lead battle come down to four cars, Ken Thirlwall
pulling away a little from the battling Ian Milton, Glynn Geddie
and Vic Covey Jnr behind him. Mark Dryden fought his way past
John Barrie to complete the top five.
The second race saw the top six reversed so Barrie
initially led away, Covey not lasting too long before a spectacular
looking collision with the tyrewall. Geddie grabbed the lead in
a frenetic struggle and managed to pull out a slight gap while
Gilbert Grossett, Mark Dryden and Thirlwall engaged in a fantastic
battle for second place, taking it turns to hold the position.
Dryden eventually grabbed it, following Geddie home a second behind,
Grossett and Thirlwall in very close attendence. Barrie completed
the top five after a similarly close fight with Jordan Gronkowski.
Having enjoyed his trip to Knockhill in his fabulous
Triumph TR4 for the Classic Speedfair, Cleveland's Mark Campbell
was a welcome returnee to the track to take part in the Classic
Sports and Saloons races. He stamped his authority all over the
first race, taking a dominant win by over eleven seconds from
Stan Bernard's Porsche, Matthew Gordon not far behind in his own
911, the two having swapped positions late on. A long way back
and completing the top five were Tommy Gilmartin's BMW and the
Lotus Europa of Olly Ross which enjoyed a long battle with Ian
Longford's Escort.
The second race was again a fairly straight-forward
affair for the Campbell TR4, recovering from a poor start he went
on to win by a generous margin from the battling Ross and Bernard
who crossed the line together. Gordon and Gilmartin completed
the top five.

The Scottish Sports and Saloon Championship saw an epic day of
battling between the ever dominant Ford Focus of Andrew Gallacher
and the Caterham Vauxhall of Robert Pritchard which was visiting
along with the constantly entertaining Northern Sports and Saloons.
Having initially pulled out a slight lead, Gallacher found himself
having to defend from the red Caterham later in the race, taking
the win by the smallest of margins. David Headen took third position
after an equally good battle with Bob Lyons, Tommy Dreelan's Porsche
GT3 in fifth.
Race two was more of the same, a fabulous race long
battle between Gallacher and Pritchard going the Caterham's way
after a breakdown on the second to last lap for the Focus dropped
it eight seconds behind at the end. Headen and Lyons once again
battled over third with Warren Dunbar coming home fifth in his
Caterham.

The SMRC Formula Ford 1600 Championship saw a huge
grid on hand, but no-one could match Mike Gardiner on the day.
In the first race he led from lights to flag, Rory Butcher initially
holding second place all race before being disqualified. This
gave second to Graham Carroll with Stuart Thorburn and Robert
Thomson completing a spread-out top five.
The second race was a Gardiner dominiated affair
once again, though a huge battle for second eventually went to
Carroll ahead of Thorburn. Alan Kirkaldy circulated with them
at the end with Craig Brunton just holding off Elliot Mason to
complete the top five.

The Scottish XR2 Championship was the hotbed of
controversy for the day when in the first race Graham Whitehill
and Andrew Winchester led the field away but were adjudged to
have jumped the start, ten seconds to be added to their race times.
Peter Cruickshank attempted a move on Winchester into the chicane
on the third lap but contact between the two saw Cruickshank off
the track and into retirement. The officials initially excluded
Winchester from the results with regard to this incident but on
appeal he was re-instated, being classified seventh. Whitehill
pulled out a large lead but in the end it would only be enough
for fourth when the penalty was added, Scott Fraser taking the
win with Willie Davidson and Charlie Cope right behind him. A
wide moment at the hairpin dropped Dave Colville from a possible
win to fifth place at the end.
The second race was a lights to flag victory for
Whitehill, his run to the flag being aided by the three car battle
behind him as well as the very early breakdown of Scott Fraser.
Davidson initially held the place and held off pressure from Cope
and Winchester for the majority of the race before falling behind
them both on the penultimate lap. Five seconds further back, Dave
Colville led home a large pack of battling cars to complete the
top five.

The first heat of the day for the Scottish Legends
Championship started with Gerrard McCosh and Ben Mason breaking
away from the pack, McCosh initially building up a lead which
Mason ate into after working his way through the field, taking
the lead on lap five and holding McCosh off to the flag. Dave
Newsham also had to work his way through the field but did so
in fine style, coming home in a lonely third place ahead of the
equally singular Dave Thorburn and Carol Brown. Incident of the
race was between Steve Reynolds and Andrew Donald when a mechanical
problem robbed Reynolds of engine braking and he slammed into
Donald's car at the hairpin, losing the front-right wheel.
The second heat was a walkover for Newsham, leading
the entire race from pole. Mason once again worked his way through
the field but still had three seconds to make up on Newsham at
the end. Scholarship driver Rory Bryant put in the drive of the
day to grab his first podium, helped by a tangle behind him between
McCosh and Thorburn which saw Carol Brown up to fifth.
The final was once again between Newsham and Mason
when it came down to it, Newsham made a slightly better job of
it and managed to pull a small gap which Mason could not pull
back. Having started on the front row after a bad day, Frank Hynds
made the most of it to come home in a lonely third place, a long
way ahead of a huge battle between McCosh and Brown, which would
go McCosh's way after a last gasp move at the hairpin.