XJS REPORT & RESULTS BELOW, CLICK ON MENU ABOVE FOR OTHER RACES

THE XJS RACE SATURDAY 26th APRIL

No snow, a healthy size grid and full points in all four classes! Due to the history of mishaps at Brands, Terry Dye the JEC racing co-ordinator briefed all drivers to be on their best behaviour!

27 XJS's took to the Indy circuit for qualifying. Simon Seath was a late entry, making his comeback after almost a years absence. Ray Hill also returned to the championship after a lengthy break.

Biggest surprise was Philip Comer puting his 3.6L class D car on the 4th row of the grid. Philip felt that his earlier qualifying session with TTRS had probably helped. Andrew Harrison continued to shine, with 4th overall and 1st in class. This is pretty good going considering there were 10 modified cars that by rights should all have been in front of him!

Ian Drage also had a good qualifying session with 5th in class and 12th overall. Not bad for his second race meeting! Andrew, Matt, and Gary will need to keep a close eye on No.31 in the following races!

Unfortunately Gail Hill was not so fortunate. Despite a concerted effort by Gary Davis to sort out the mysterious fuelling problems, Gail only managed to achieve 9th on the grid, which is not where anyone expected her to be. Whether this was due to the same problem or something else is not certain. Cliff Ryan had even worse luck only completing a couple of laps before retiring.

Cliff Ryan, Classic Spares driver limps into the pits after only two practice laps!

David Ball had been hoping to unleash the full potential of the ex Johnny Hassell V12 after correcting the ignition timing. Whether the car was back on song is not clear, but a recurring back problem meant that Dave never made the race, and qualifying was probably compromised due to the pain.

And the Class G woes continued with Mark Russell. Having succesfuly completed the TTRS qualifying (22nd out of a full grid of 32), Mark only managed 4 laps of the XJS practice before another head gasket failed! Good news is that the car was back on the track Sunday & competed succesfuly in the TTRS & Future Classics races.

Chris Palmer was the fastest E again, but needs to keep a watch out for the rumoured return of Gary Davis in a new Class E car later in the season.

Last but not least, Stewert Lyddall had another cracking qualifying, and Derek Pearce was back on song!

THE RACE

Derek Pearce got off to the perfect start, whilst Stewert Lyddall could only watch as he took the lead into the first corner. The racing at the front was close throughout, and Derek had to drive deffensively especially at Clearways.

Ist lap Derek Pearce leads Stewert Lyddall on the exit of Druids. Pic Colin McKay (thanks).

Loz Ball in Gail Hill's old car, having better fortune than his brother David.

How Jim Quirke didn't get beached at Paddock must be the 8th wonder of the world! Pic Mathew Jeffery.

Jim regains his composure to fight off Philip Comer.

Andrew Harrison comfortably maintained his 4th place, or so it appeared! Inside the car Andrew continued to monitor the oil pressure that consitantly dropped as the laps went by. I am told that there is no truth in the rumour that Harrison radioed to David Eyles to bring out the red flag!

The race for Gail Hill was to be worse than the quallifying session, although she did have some good battles with drivers that she normally only sees as the blue flags wave her by! On lap 8 new driver Ian Drage managed to grab 12th place from Gail!

Chris Palmer had another solid race, not being troubled by Andrew, and of no threat to the two up front.

Philip Comer was in unfamiliar territory as he struggled to maintain the advantage he had gained in qualifying, eventually finishing 6th in class. With the extra track time Phil is putting in this year, I think we will see him gradually nudging up the grid.

Philip Comer had his best ever Qualifying session & being pressured by Gail Hill at Druids!

It turned out to be an unfortunate debut for the first paying customer of the Kutuka hire car. The racing had been close between Ian Drage, David Eyles, & Ray Hill, but on lap 8 Ray had some braking issues at Druids resulting in contact with David Eyles, ending his race in the Druids gravel trap! Although Ray carried on, he did not complete the lap! Due to Davids car being beached in a dangerous position, the race was red flagged on lap 10.

Derek Pearce was declared the winner, with Stewert Lyddal having to settle for second. As usual Chris Palmer took the class E honours, and Andrew Harrison took Class D for the first time! Judging by the smoke screen, another lap would have spelled the end of Andrews race & a DNF instead of the 17 points scored for 1st in class, fastest lap, quickest qualifying!

Also see Championship positions. More pictures to follow!

RACE RESULT

POSS	NAME	CLASS	BRANDS HATCH	PICTURE / LINK	CAR No.	CC	QUAL
1	Derek Pearce	G	.		58	6L	2
2	Stewert Lyddall	G	Click on Pic for more details>>>>>>		23	5.3L	1
3	Chris Palmer	E	...		9	4L	3
4	Andrew Harrison	D	.		5	4L	4
5	Gary Hastings	D	.		2	4L	6
6	Matt Skelton	D	An.		25	3.6L	5
7	Lawrence Coppock	D	.		27	4L	8
8	Paul Merrett	E	.		73	4L	11
9	Lawrence Ball	E	..		63	4L	10
10	Jim Quirke	D	.		28	4L	14
11	Philip Comer	D	.Click on Pic for more info>>>>		71	3.6L	7
12	Ian Drage	D	.		31	3.6L	12
13	Gail Hill	G	Click on pic for more details >>>>>		52	5.3L	9
14	Mike Sharman	F	.		20	5.3L	15
15	Robert MacVicar	D	.		66	4L	17
16	Simon Seath	D	..		17	3.6L	20
17	Roger Webster	D	Click on Pic>>>>		42	4L	18
18	Michael Scoins	D	New Driver (good luck!)		33	4L	23
19	Richard Crossley	D	Richard returns after a short break from XJS racing.		10	3.6L	25
20	Bob Beecham	D	.		34	4L	21
21	Paul Reynolds	F	.		47	5.3L	24
22	Mike Jobson	F	.		12	5.3L	26
DNF	David Eyles	D	David was the first customer for the Kutuka hire car. (As driven by Alex Harrison at Snetterton)		.40	4L	16
DNF	Ray Hill	E	Ray made his return to the XJS championship in the Ex Chris Boon car.		37	4L	19
DNS	Mark Russell	G	.		7	5.8L	13
DNS	Cliff Ryan	G	.		44	6L	27
DNS	David Ball	G	.	.	4	4.0L	22

GOSSIP

Mike Sharman is unlikely to be doing any, or many more races as he feels there is more to life than racing Jaguars! Does anyone know if there is a cure for this condition? He will be greatly missed, being the most succesful class F driver since Steve Davis in 2003?

Matt Skelton didn't seem to be too amused when I was talking to him about how well Andrew Harrison was doing this season! On reflection this probably wasn't terribly diplomatic! Matt is after all one of the main threats to Andrew's Championship hopes, along with the ever present Gary Hastings!

Alex Harrison is eager to get back in the driving seat, which will be available whenever the Kutuka hire car is idle. Brother Andrew has tipped him as being the next Schumacher!

I understand that during repairs of the Kutuka hire car, the angle grinder slipped and the car became Class E! Not sure who will be driving it at Brands, but my money is on Alex!

I know its all been said before, but Gary Davis sounded very convincing this time when he told me that a new Class E car is seriously under way in the Davis workshop! Chris Palmer will no doubt be hoping that Gary is kept too busy sorting other peoples cars!

SNIPPIT

SUNSTRIPS & RACING INCIDENTS

After all the furore last year over the legality of the Toyo sunstrips (in XJS's with short windscreens), Terry Dye has now told me that the MSA have approved them! For any drivers that are interested in more details please go to the XJS REGS page. This is only accessable via the link that I sent to drivers in 2007 when I was the drivers rep. If you would like me to send it again please email me to: dave@jagracing.co.uk

There is also some thoughts on the number of race & practice stopping incidents at Brands.