Formula II Action At Cowdenbeath

Cowdenbeath is gearing up for the most prestigious weekend in its calender.

The formula II world championships come to the racewall tonight - with the semi finals taking place tonight

31 drivers will squeeze onto the track around Central Park, with just 6 places up for grabs.

Formula II is one of the most exciting types of stock car racing and takes place on a 400metre tarmac oval with the cars achieving around 75 mph on the straights.

The cars are of a single seater variety with bumpers front and rear and are powered by a 2 litre Pinto engine. Most of the cars sport large aerofoils on their roof and roll cages with the drivers securely strapped into their cars.

To get to the World Final the drivers had to participate in a series of qualifying rounds and out of the 500 registered drivers only the top 56 were split into two semi-finals where the top ten from each semi-final were seeded onto the World Final grid.

The unlucky drivers who failed to qualify for the World Final have a lifeline where they can race in a consolation semi final held on the night prior to the final where the top six drivers will line up at the rear of the grid. Amongst those who could be in action are past World Champions Chris Burgoyne, Mark Simpson and Mickey Brennan.

There are spaces on the grid for the International drivers and at the time of writing we know that Toon Schut and Wim Peeters will be heading over from Holland and both are formidable drivers whilst Jan Beckers from Belgium has also booked.

The Northern Ireland representatives are Christopher Kincaid, Samuel McKay, Craig McConnell and Conner Hughes whilst Gavin Fegan will be their reserve driver.

Mark Hargreaves and Dougie Kincaid are the representatives from the Isle of Man and they will complete the places designated to the International drivers. Whilst there are specified grid positions for the International drivers they will participate in time trials to determine where they will line up.

Of those who have qualified for the main race there is the defending World Champion James Rygor who will start from the rear of the grid, Barry Goldin, Rob Speak and Gordon Moodie have all had the pleasure of lifting the World title something that quite a few of the top drivers fail to do.

Also racing will be drivers who have been European, British, National Points, Scottish, Irish and English Champions making the grid a “who’s who” of stock car racing.

Fife’s hopes of the World Title staying in the Kingdom rest on the shoulders of Gordon Moodie from Windygates. Gordon won the World title in 2006 at Mildenhall and this year is in good form having already won the European, British and Scottish Championships – the latter for the third successive year as well as the F2 Challenge which he won at Taunton.

Just recently he headed over to Venray in Holland where he won the prestigious World Cup. Moodie is also well ahead in the race to win the National Points and the privilege of racing with a silver roof for the tenth time.

Gordon said: ” I had a problem with my brakes almost from the start at Mildenhall. I don’t think they worked more than 30% at any one time.  I am now looking forward to the final. I start from row 8 but I have good speed with my car so if it is my day then it’s my day.

"I need to keep out of trouble for the whole race. The first bend is going to be a nightmare. I don’t feel much pressure although the pressure I feel is on my performance. I have won the title before where I felt I had pressure on me and hopefully it will make me drive better.

I hope that it is going to be a good race and that the fans get the result they want – whether it be me or not. Yes I want to win it for myself and my supporters but I have had a great season and won many titles although I wouldn’t swap them for a World Final win”.