Harris returns and conquers
Organiser: Startrax/ Spedeworth/ GMP/ HRP When: June 25 Starters: 28
Tom Harris returned from two weeks of racing sprint cars in the United States of America to successfully defend his Scottish Championship title.
Harris has not been in a stock car since he raced at Buxton at the tail end of April, after which he sold his car, so for the Scottish weekend he was behind a car borrowed from sponsor Jamie Davidson.
The Cowdenbeath Racewall has a fearsome reputation as one of the toughest stock car tracks in the UK, and on Saturday night it lived up to its reputation. A brutal race eliminated many of the sport’s top drivers in a series of bone-jarring crashes and, at the conclusion, only 11 of the 28 cars were left running, with two of those limping round with damaged cars.
Michael Steward emerged from the early chaos to take the lead, before he was overhauled by Harris at the halfway point.
Mick Sworder barged his way into second as the laps wound down with Steward holding on for third.
Harris explained: “I was determined to win tonight, it’s a track you can’t be afraid of and you have to attack it and drive aggressively.
“The racing line is right up against the wall and you can’t be scared to get as close to the wall as you can. I think racing in America has helped, with the higher speeds out there it has helped me read the race better.
“I have driven many different types of cars out there, so that has helped me adjust to driving a car that I had never sat in before.”
Second placed man Sworder said: “That was a hard race. It was a matter of surviving the first few laps and then trying to settle down into a rhythm, but it is not like any other track we race at, you almost have to four wheel slide it around the turns. I pushed a little too hard a couple of times and hit the wall, so I was lucky to finish.”
Steward, who was making his Cowdenbeath debut, said: “It suits the more experienced driver so I am delighted to get third place.
“There is no room for error. I got loose towards the end and hit the wall, that slowed me down a bit, but I was able to hang on.”
Two of the sport’s main players, Frankie Wainman Jr and Rob Speak, both former champions, were delayed by hefty contact.