The Madman Writes - 6th June 2009

The biggest ‘Will he, won’t he’ will finally be resolved tonight as all the hype surrounding the impending return of F2 legend, Rob Speak, will be known. Never has the return of a driver got so much publicity in recent times. Before everyone gets carried away on the bandwagon, let get back to some reality. Yes, Rob is the best driver ever to have sat behind the wheel of a F2. Not just me saying that, the record books speak (pardon the pun) for themselves. Yes, it is a shot in the arm for the formula to gain a few more column inches in the local press. I mean I am relishing the prospect of seeing Rob along with former World champions, Gordon Moodie and Chris Burgoyne doing battle with the current gold roof Ian Thompson after the summer break. Tonight we are not going to see Rob make a fairytale comeback by winning the F2 Nationals as criteria of getting entry into the race is that the top points scorers in the National points present at the meeting get priority into the race with the grid decided by a public draw. I am looking forward to seeing the continuing battle for the National points between Chris Bradbury and David Polley carrying on apace as never have been two driver more committed to the cause. Chris had the advantage up to a couple of weeks ago when David hit a purple patch and the pair are virtually neck and neck going into tonight’s race. No doubt some anorak will come up and tell me exactly what is in it before the battle continues tonight. Whatever happens, we are in for a race full of drama and spectacle.

It is not just about F2 racing. The Ministox have their biggest night of the year as they contest the 2009 Scottish championship. Not very often, I get the chance to say that there is a defending champion in the formula as the race tends to be won by a driver in their final season of racing and the defence goes uncontested. No so tonight as Marc Fortune gets the opportunity to get back to back successes. On paper, Robert Gemmell and Ross Waters will start as the favourites but, as we witnessed last week, anything can happen in the formula with the leaders all ending up in a heap in the home straight allowing Gemma Russell to come through and steal the spoils. Kevin Morrison went away in the Racewall ambulance for a check up. Hopefully he will be fit to race tonight along with Liam Rennie who has been sidelined for a couple of weeks having broke some toes in the simplest looking of crashes up at Crimond. Good luck to all the youngsters out there tonight.

There was more walking wounded in the pits last week with Brian Honeyman joining Lindsay Wilson from the Saloons. Stevie Honeyman shown a lot of sympathy for Brian when I nabbed him for a quick word on the centre green last week by implying that Brian was at it!! Lindsay, on the other hand, announced his retirement from the formula and plans to build a Lightning Rod once he is back to full fitness. There were some hard hits in the Saloons over the weekend, the worst looking one being Craig Barnett who had a badly bent car for his troubles. Twelve years and about half a dozen retirements after he his last British success, Gordon Alexander, came back with a bang, which given the results in the heats, looked highly unlikely as the English had the front three rows on the grid. If you look at his record in major championships down the years it is one of the best of any driver in the formula. He might not have won as many as some of his rivals but has an uncanny knack of staying out of trouble and using all of his experience to get to the finish. You could have predicted the outcome when the race was stopped with five laps to go and Gordon was sat in third place. Stevie Honeyman would never settle for second and his push on Craig Barnett was always going to leave the door open for Gordon to sail through. Son Dean, looking to following in dads footsteps, was absolutely delighted for him and it is great to have a Scot holding a major title in the saloons again. Well done to Barry Hollet for his good weekend and taking the Raymond Gunn tribute race back down South.

With my space almost up, there is just room to remind you that next Saturday the racing is at Knockhill with Sunday here at the Racewall when the might F1’s roll into town.. What’s the betting that someone goes to Cowdenbeath next Saturday before clicking what is going on. Before that there is action up at Crimond tomorrow with a 1pm start time. Now sit back and let the action begin.