JEC XJS Championship - Rockingham 23^rd May 2004:

To let you know how popular it is getting 38 cats subscribed but only 30 could race. Derek Pearce was in pole, Gary Davis, in his Jaguar World Monthly XJS 2nd with a tired engine and Adam Ashmore 3rd. So with everyone in position and following the pace car, the rolling-start began. At the end of lap 1, 4th place Steve Davis took the lead with Gary Davis in hot pursuit. But Steve pulled away fractionally with each lap and drove a hard and faultless race to take class G and race win. Gary's car finally cried enough on lap 8 where he spun off, race over.

Class E winner and 2nd, Martin Sutherland was having a lonely but solid drive, till a few laps from home Adam Ashmore had a second wind and seemed to appear from nowhere to finish 3rd after a couple of laps with a cone lodged under the front (don't ask). A couple more laps and who knows? There was a great class D, four-way tussle between Gail Hill, Simon Currell, Dave Ball and Lawrence Coppock with only 2 seconds splitting this group. Gail showed some aggressive but fair driving to hold her position. Strong first time out runs for Wayne Ulph & Simon Isherwood. Johns Griffin's car took to the kitty litter and missed some tremendous racing throughout the grid. Stuart Lyddall, the young Rookie, scored an excellent 6th place in his 2nd race of the championship.

Derek Pearce however, the old master, was 2nd on lap 2 until he spun at the chicane, rejoined at the back of the field and fought his way back up to finish a respectable 5th. A joy to watch. Zoe North was back for this race, despite her engine blowout in the Saloon race and collected a good few points finishing 8th. There is no keeping this girl down.

Winner Steve Davis Class G, 2nd Martin Sutherland Class E, 3rd Adam Ashmore Other class winners - Sean Collins Class D and Paul Jocelyn-Brown Class F.

Report by Steve Gorey (JEC)