JEC RACING 2008

Rockingham 7th June 2008

JEC Racing - Jaguar Classic Parts Jaguar Saloon Championship
The weather for round 5 was a proper 'mixed bag' with the Saloons qualifying on a dry track and the XJS's out in the wet, whilst for the afternoon races the conditions were reversed.

The first race was the Saloons with Richard Dorlin on pole, Simon Lewis second and Tim Morrant third out of a grid of 19 cars.

When the red lights went out Dorlin and Lewis were away quickly but Chris Boon in his XJ40 shot up from sixth to third and then blew up on lap two, meaning his race was over before it had begun.

The rain sodden 1.9mile track was getting the best out of all drivers as they tried desperately to stay on the black stuff.

On lap 3 Phil Woods XJ40 missed the bend at Deene and then proceeded to go all the way round the oval circuit and rejoined the race back in third place, wicked!

Meanwhile, at the front Dorlin and Lewis were showing a wonderful display that resulted in Richard taking Class B and race win, Simon was second and Phil Wood was third and Class A winner.

Further down the field there was some great battles between Dean Sewell 6th place and Duncan Ross 7th with only 0.4 of a second gap and Peter Dorlin (MK II) 11th, Robert Drewery (XJ40) 12th and our gentleman pensioner Brian George (X-300) 13th. Seventeen year old Patrick Doyle also did very well to finish 15th. Other Class winners were Nick Gwinnutt (class E} in fourth place and Mike Cann (class D) in ninth place.

Brian George on the banking - NG

Dorlin&Lewis - KB

McKay - NG

McKay, Dorlin - DE

Mike Cann spins - NG

Nick Gwinnutt - NG

Peter Dorlin - KB

Race leader - NG

Sewell, Ross - NG

McKay, Dorlin 2 - NG

XJ40s - KB

Toyo Tyres XJS Championship
The XJS raced on a dry track, with Stewart Lyddall on pole, Derek (dark knight) Pearce second and Chris Palmer third. The red lights went out and 21 cats roared into the first bend, with Pearce fractionally ahead of Lyddall as these two disappeared in a cloud of dust. This is how it stayed until the last lap when the pressure from Stewart finally forced Derek to make an error and allow Stewart to pass and take the chequered flag with race and Class G win.

Elsewhere there was a four way tussle for places 5th to 8th between class D winner Andrew Harrison, Lawrence Ball, big Gary Hastings and Ray Hill, these four chopped and changed places on every lap. As they crossed the line just 2 seconds covered all four.

The class D cars of Lawrence Coppock and Matt Skelton also had a very close race, some would say a little to close, when they both touched on lap 7 causing Matt to spin at Tarzan bend. Skelton recovered to finish 10th and Lawrence 9th.

Mark Russell was going well until his transmission let him down, and Gail Hill's season got even worse when engine failure forced retirement.

Other Class winners were Chris Palmer (E) who was fourth and Paul Reynolds (F).