JEC RACING 2008

SNETTERTON PARK 18th October 2008

TOYO TIRES XJS CHAMPIONSHIP
Welcome everyone to the grande finale of the 2008 Jaguar Saloon and XJS racing championship at the 1.9 mile fast circuit of Snetterton. The weather was cloudy and with a slight chill but not a drop of rain fell.

The XJS's were the first to qualify. Derek (dark knight) Pearce suffered a scare when three quarters of the way through qualifying his brakes disappeared at Sear Corner and this may have contributed to his lap time as he ended up in pole position. During lunch Derek frantically worked on the problem before the afternoon race.

The afternoon came and 15 Cats were on the grid including Derek on pole, Stewart Lyddall 2nd and Andrew Harrison 3rd. When the red lights went out Derek and Stewart went off and Mark Russell moved up to 3rd (that was now three V12's at the front). It stayed that way until lap 6 when leader Pearce spun off after losing his brakes again and Lyddall said "thanks very much", Stewart led the race and now had a fifteen second gap from second placed Russell. The leader started to ease back for the next few laps but didn't realise that the gap was now only three seconds as Mark reeled him in, but like a true 'fresh water pike' Stuart snapped the line, pulled away slightly and won the race by 5.5 seconds. Mark was 2nd and Chris Palmer the Class E and overall champion was 3rd from 9th on the grid, just pipping Class D winner Andrew Harrison by 0.2 of a second.

There were a couple of returning drivers that we haven't seen for quite a few races, Cliff Ryan with his V12 and Jim Quirke's 4.0 litre. Cliff qualified 11th but retired on lap 6 with mechanical problems. Jim had the better day however, starting from 8th on the grid and finishing an admirable 5th, showing he hasn't lost his touch.

Paul Merrett was 6th with Lawrence Ball just 4.5 seconds further back and Lawrence Coppock 6 seconds adrift of Ball.

Chris Palmer, Andrew Harrison - DE

Chris Palmer, Jim Quirke - RG

Chris Palmer - KB

Cliff Ryan - KB

Graeme Reynolds, Alex Harrison - DE

Jim Quirke - DE

Lawrence Ball - RG

Lead Pair - RG

Mark Russell, Chris Palmer - DE

Mark Russell 2 - RG

Mark Russell - RG

Paul Reynolds - RG

Russell, Palmer, Harrison - KB

Smokin' - RG

Stuart Lydall 2 - RG

Stuart Lydall - RG

JAGUAR CLASSIC PARTS JAGUAR SALOON CHAMPIONSHIP
Neil Taylor was up early in the morning as he had to pick up a new wheel bearing for his modern S-Type from Norwich, get back to the track and install it before the qualifying session. A fantastic display of perseverance putting Neil 11th on the grid.

Peter Dorlin's MK II lost oil pressure at Castle Combe, so for today borrowed the X-300 of Chris Palmer and amazingly took pole position, with Mike Cann 2nd in his XJ40 and Simon Lewis 3rd. Richard Dorlin, who has had an outstanding season, could only qualify 5th, blaming the exhaust mufflers on his car for the loss of power.

John Slater spun at Russell and the front of his car went into the tyre wall, no damage done and he was on his way again.

Seventeen Jags revved away on the grid and when the red lights went out everyone got off to a good start. At the front it turned into a 5-way ding dong with Dave Bye and Richard Dorlin joining the top three. At the Esses, Cann passed Dorlin but a bend later Peter was having none of it and retook first place.

Simon had now dropped back to fifth. On lap 2 Cann was again leading. Bye was up to 2nd on lap 3 until lap 11 but then dropped back to 4th. Peter was now up to 2nd and son Richard was 3rd. These cars were unbelievable going through Russell Chicane and the crowd cheered to see such close racing. This is the order they took the chequered flag with only 4 seconds separating the five cars. Brilliant !!!

Still slightly further down the field 11th and 12th placed Guy Connow (XJ6) and Colin McKay (MKII) had a real fight from start to finish with Colin being the leader for most of the race. Colin then spun on oil leaving the Esses and Guy crossed the line 0.8 of a second ahead.

At the rear, Patrick Doyle (17 years old), Brian George (young at heart) and Matt Jeffery (16 years old) had a great race with nothing between them throughout the race and they even all managed to spin off at the same bend on the same lap. What a combination of youth and maturity that we hope to see plenty of next season.