JEC XJS Championship - Oulton Park 11^th August 2007:

The start to an XJS race is never dull. 22 big cars, 7000 horsepower, 30-odd tons of Jag and 22 wild-eyed nutcases all trying to hurl themselves into Old Hall corner on road tyres was no exception.

Steve Davis led from the start, Avery in hot pursuit, with Doyle, Hill, Lock and Lyddall in a serious scrap at the front. Lyddall got too much wheelspin from the start but made up several spots through Cascade until what he describes as "a moment" with his rear wheels on the grass, dropping him back behind John Lock and just ahead of Mark Russell, into a determined tail chase on the Hill/Lock battle that would last the remainder of his race.

Steve Davis quickly built himself a good lead and was to stay there despite warped brake discs, to take another win, 8 out of 8 and seemingly unstoppable. Avery secured second place and immediately began his customary entertainment routine for the crowds. Doyle was in a strong third spot until he threw it off on lap 5, doing well to recover to 5th position, but by no means the only front runner to experience problems. Gary Davis also had an off that dropped him from that inherited third spot, and then unfortunately into retirement on lap 6.

John Lock and Gail Hill were in a close fight for much of the race until Gail also had an off that let Lock through, promoted into third place with the problems for Gary Davis and Doyle. Further down the grid Hastings, Coppock and Skelton were in what seems to be becoming a customary three-way fight, and would trade lap times for the race. Coppock managed to get ahead of Skelton, and would eventually cross the line only 0.7 seconds behind the battered Hastings car. Further back still and there are four close fights. Loz Ball was so close to Paul Merrett for the entire race that they are in fact now engaged, Loz's class D against the Merrett class E car proving such a close contest that Loz would be awarded the club's Driver of the Day.

A place back and there is a hard fight between Harrison and Upton in the black Covcats number 39 car, Harrison trying a number of passing places and finding his opponent to be a firm defender, something that wasn't necessarily the only thing muttered inside the visor as the spectators watched him bounce along the grasscrete at Old Hall when the open door was firmly shut. Harrison eventually pushed past after a better exit from Cascades, Upton unfortunately then also spinning on entry to the first hairpin and losing ground.

Behind that scrap Webster was locked in a fight with Mike Sharman's class F car until a spin on approach to the hairpin on lap 5 cost Sharman the place. Dave Ball, charging from the back after a poor qualifying, was by now in hot pursuit of Webster and reeling him in, but would not make it past before the chequered flag despite gaining an impressive 4 places by race end..

Harrison quickly caught the Loz Ball/Paul Merrett fight to join the party, but Oulton's long circuit means few laps to play with, and trying to overtake Loz Ball is like wrestling a greased python, it's entertaining to watch but you'll hurt yourself trying, the three cars would finish in that order.

Stewart Lyddall's promising race ended with a burst water hose, pulling over in a cloud of steam and serious profanity after Cascades from second in class and donating the place to Mark Russell.

At the front it was Steve Davis with a healthy 11 second lead from Avery at the finish, but apparently with ominous bottom end noises at the flag, Oulton very close to claiming a high-profile scalp and a serious championship upset.

Avery had abandoned the chase and was instead treating the crowds to his unique style of tackling Cascades, fuelled by what he calls "Kodak Courage" this means attacking the corner sideways, if there were style points for longest drift the guy would have no equals, but a second place finish was nothing to sniff at either.

Lock was close behind however, an astonishing third place for the 'road going' class D car ahead of no fewer than 2 V12 manuals and a pair of modified 6s. 4 seconds clear of the class in qualifying, a race pace 5 seconds clear of the next class D, can anything stop him winning all 10 this year? Clearly he and Steve Davis are taking this one to the wire.