JEC XJS Championship - Rockingham 24^th May 2003:

22 Cats qualified for the second race of the day with Gary Davis in his Jaguar Monthly sponsored XJS on pole, Richard Masters 2nd and Derek Pearce 3rd. When the 'pace car' pulled in and the race was go Richard got the edge on Gary, but Gary fought back and with the ensuing battle Richard spun and his race was over.

Once again it started to rain and that volatile chemical of rain and XJS's was to explode as Kevin Doyle suffered coming out of the chicane where he lost control, spinning on the track and into the wall. This caused poor Nicola Duncan to do the same as she tried to use evasive manoeuvres to avoid Kevin. Fortunately both drivers were fine but their cars will require surgery.

Gary Davis seized his opportunity taking control of the race to win and take Class G. Colin Thatcher Class E winner drove a great race trying to catch Gary and finished 2nd less than 5 seconds behind. Derek Pearce in his Millennium sponsored 6.0 litre was 3rd but not before finding the chicane tricky and locking up a couple of times. Slightly further down the field was an almighty tussle between Sean Collin, Class F winner Steve Davis, James Shea and Gail Hill, finishing 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th, less than 2 seconds between them.

David Ball had an impressive race in his first season of XJS's by finishing 12th from 19th. Paul Jocelyn-Brown completed the last few laps with white smoke billowing from his exhaust to take 16th place. Points are points!

Adam Ashmore's 'Pink Peril' won his class after clawing back from an earlier spin and, to make his day, he & Gary Davis were approached by 2 young ladies from their fan clubs for autographs. Some guys have all the luck!

Report by STEVE GOREY (JEC)