Kirkcaldy stock rod driver Dylan Smart hoping to take on world

“I am enjoying my second season in the stock rods and have had my first taste of a major championship, experiencing the highs and the lows,” he told us.

“Over the close season, my dad and I built a new car. I had written my first car off last year and we had the car for the start of the season.

“I wasn’t too happy with its handling at the start but we have made quite a few changes to the set-up and it’s a lot better. It’s almost where I want it to be.

“My season so far has been quite good and I have picked up a lot of decent results, finishing in the top five fairly often. In fact, I don’t think that I have not been in the top ten in many of my outings bar two.”

Recalling one of the low points of the current campaign, followed by a more positive showing, Smart said: “I was looking forward to the championship weekend in June at the Racewall. The European championship was run on the Saturday night and the ORCi championship on the Sunday afternoon.

“In practice, my car ran well and we did make some changes to it after our runs. I had two heats to qualify for the final and in my first I started from the second row on the grid and had a really good race, finishing in fourth place.

“The grid was reversed for my second race, meaning I was starting at the back of the field and was dicing with a bunch of cars, making it difficult to make up ground. I ended up, I think, in 11th but we scored points no matter where we finished.

“When my points were totalled, I started the championship race from row five. I felt confident as my car had run well but I came back down to earth with a thud. On the warm-up lap, my throttle cable broke and I had to retire without managing a lap. I was disappointed, to say the least.

“I had my car ready for the following day and this time we ran from our grades to qualify. In my heats, I picked up a sixth place in heat one and a ninth in heat two, which I started from the outside of row four. I ran in mid-order for most of the time, dicing with a group of cars, and I was quite pleased to finish in seventh place.

“I finished the meeting with a third place in the all-comers’ heat so I was reasonably pleased with my weekend’s racing.”

Smart is hoping to take on the world once racing resumes, saying: “When we return at the end of July, I will be hoping to go to our world final at Nutts Corner in Northern Ireland at the beginning of September.

“Later that month is the Scottish championship, which will be my first, so I am looking forward to both.”

He added: “I am an apprentice motor mechanic at Alford’s garage in Kirkcaldy and am lucky enough to get sponsorship from them.

“Basically, it is my dad and I who do all the work on the car, although my family and friends are always willing to help. I really appreciate all the help from them and from my sponsors, who make my racing possible.”