MMALLORY PARK SUNDAY 24th
MAY 2009
The weather was brilliant for
a change and there was a respectable showing of Jaguar Saloons (18) but
a rather poor turn out of XJS's (12). The Saloon drivers therefore had to
share the qualifying with the XJS's through no fault of their own. Amongst
the drivers I spoke to, this joint qualifying was generally disliked! From
a spectators point of view however it was great! Powered
by Jaguar pics
SALOONS
Once again Tim Morrant was
not behind the wheel and has kindly produced the following report. Many
thanks Tim!
QUALIFYING
As with Brands last time out,
the saloon and XJS qualifying sessions were combined (for reasons that don't
make much sense) thus more tales of congestion when trying for 'the' lap
that counts.
As with Brands, there was a
surprise at the sharp end this time for long time campaigner John Slater
in his XJ40 class B car. A 3rd overall place, only 1 tenth off pole was
a personal best for him. Simon Lewis was back in form and on top, grabbing
pole from Peter Dorlin by just 0.060 of a second! With Gail Hill in 4th
just 0.030 of a second behind John, it looked like being a close race with
the top 4 covered by just 0.131 of a second!!
Class A leader was Phil Woods
(7th), class E Neil Taylor (8th) and class D Colin Mckay (9th). Matt Jeffery
was out in Dad's class D Lister XJ40 and qualified a very respectable 14th.
The Saloons are very close these days and a great race was to follow.
New Saloon driver David Craven-Jones.
(pic Mark Stabler)
THE RACE
They lined up gleaming in the
glorious sunshine minus poor Robert Drewery (who was still suffering from
a mystery problem which cuts the engine for no apparent reason) who had
to pull off at the end of the green flag lap.
The lights went out and they
all got away, but Simon Lewis had, in his words "a disastrous start", and
lost 4 places by the exit of Gerrards. The rest of the field got away well
with Peter Dorlin leading and headed for the first bend through a James
Bond style smoke screen laid down by John Slater's slightly over filled
engine. So at the hairpin for the first time there was the usual late braking
and tyre smoke but no contact thankfully. The majority of the smoke had
come from a recovering Lewis who out braked himself and locked up. Chris
Boon took full advantage, nipping through and the order or the top 6 after
lap 1 was Peter Dorlin from John Slater, Gail Hill, Dave Bye, Simon Lewis
and Chris Boon. These spit into three pairs each having a Royal battle to
pass/stay ahead with but a fag paper between respectively.
(pic Mark Stabler)
On Lap 2 Colin Mckay had closed
on Simon Lewis and challenged around the outside of Gerrards but Lewis held
him off and Colin subsequently fell back a few lengths and there he stayed.
Lap 2 also saw Gail Hill move into second ahead of John at the hairpin which
allowed Dave Bye to close up on John and they stayed locked together for
the duration. So it was Peter now hassled by Gail, then John hassled by
Dave Bye and Chris Boon hassled by Simon. Everyone was trying everything
to pass and there were plenty of 'sideways moments' by many at the esses,
hairpin and Devils elbow to grab the attention of an entertained crowd.
(pic Mark Stabler)
Midfield there was an EPIC
battle in class A for second between Guy Connew (who had got the better
of Patrick Doyle at the start), Patrick Doyle and Dean Sewell. These three
were keeping the fans on edge lap after lap with Guy keeping Patrick behind
who was then passed by Dean and Guy kept him at bay to until Dean braked
too late for Gerrards and ended up in the litter tray on the entry, leaving
Patrick to set about Guy again which he did relentlessly. He even tried
taking to the grass at the esses and skilfully kept it out off the barriers
to rejoin and set about Guy all over again. Guy drove brilliantly under
constant pressure to bring it home second in class with Patrick along side
his back door at the line.
(pic Mark Stabler)
At the front Gail was gaining
on Peter with every lap through the esses but could not get close enough
to challenge and when back markers came into play, Peter MUST have been
praying that a repeat of Brands was not about to happen and thankfully it
didn't and Peter Dorlin took his first outright win and first class win
for his new for this season class B series 1 XJ6 (quick those series 1 cars
in the right hands)!!!!
Matt Jeffery drove well and
didn't put a wheel wrong, especially when under pressure at the end from
the lapping leaders (one to watch in years to come)! Neil Taylor had a solid
race in his modern S type, resuming his battle with class B's Rik Walker
and the 2 swapped places a couple of times before Rik's 4200 out gunned
Neil's 3000 down the start/finish and stayed just ahead at the flag by 0.837
from Neil. Neil picked up his first class E victory (well deserved) with
Phil Woods 1st in A and Colin 1st in D. Another corker to watch and, by
all accounts, to drive in too!! Bring on Oulton Park!!
Tim Morrant
MORE PICS & XJS REPORT
TO FOLLOW
|
POSS
|
NAME
|
CLASS |
MALLORY PARK
|
PICTURE / LINK
|
CAR No.
|
TYPE
|
QUAL
|
|
.
|
|
1
|
Peter Dorlin
|
B
|
. |
|
10
|
XJ6
|
2
|
|
2
|
Gail Hill
|
B
|
.
|
|
5
|
XJ40.
|
4
|
|
3
|
John Slater
|
B
|
.
|
|
79
|
XJ6
|
3
|
|
4
|
David Bye
|
B
|
.
Click Pic for more info>>>>>>
|
|
57
|
XJ6C
|
5
|
|
5
|
Chris Boon
|
E
|
.
|
|
39
|
XJR
|
6
|
|
6
|
Simon Lewis
|
B
|
.
|
|
65
|
XJ6
|
1
|
|
7
|
Colin McKay
|
A
|
.
|
|
36
|
MK2
|
9
|
|
8
|
Phillip Woods
|
A
|
.
|
|
35
|
XJ6
|
7
|
|
9
|
Rick Walker
|
B
|
.
|
|
54
|
XJ6
|
15
|
|
10
|
Neil Taylor
|
E
|
.
|
|
26
|
S Type
|
8
|
|
11
|
Guy Connew
|
A
|
. |
|
72
|
XJ6
|
11
|
|
12
|
Patrick Doyle
|
A
|
Click on Pic for
more info>>>>>>> |
|
91
|
XJ6
|
10
|
|
13
|
David Craven-Jones
|
B
|
. |
 |
56
|
XJ6
|
13
|
|
14
|
Brian George
|
E
|
..
|
|
3
|
XJ6 X300
|
16
|
|
15
|
Andrew Jeffery
|
D
|
Click on Pic for more
info>>>>>>>
|
|
12
|
XJ6
|
14
|
|
DNF
|
Dean Sewell
|
A
|
. |
|
46
|
XJ6
|
12
|
|
DNF
|
Chris Palmer
|
E
|
..
|
|
19
|
XJ6 X300
|
18
|
|
DNF
|
Robert Drewery
|
A
|
... |
|
30
|
|
17
|
XJS RACE
QUALIFYING
As with the saloons, joint
qualifying sessions were not universally popular! Stewert Lyddall claimed
pole again and Andrew Harrison in class D was second. There were two new
drivers Peter Burton (class G) and John Gregory in the class E car normally
driven by Alex Harrison.
(pic Mark Stabler)
THE RACE
Stewert Lyddall made such a
great start that unbeknown to him, he was sitting on a 10 second penalty!
Hot on his heels was Paul Merrett, with Andrew Harrison & Chris Palmer
fighting for 3rd.
The next battle developing
a short way down the grid was Roger Webster, Ray Hill, Ian Drage, Simon
Seath & Philip Comer. Ray quickly managed to make it past Roger but
could not pull out much of a gap.
(pic Mark Stabler)
Roger running in class E
this season was also finding it difficult to shake off the attention of
Ian Drage (now in his second season of the XJS Championship).
Keen as ever, Philip Comer
didn't want to be left out of the party, making his way past Simon Seath
during lap 3.
Peter Burton fends of John Gregory
in the fated Kutuka hire car.
Further back down the pack
John Gregory driving the race winning Kutuka class E car retired with a
severely battered front end after 7 laps and a meeting with the Armco at
Gerrards. (Probably not the best car to do your first ever race in!) Peter
Burton faired better in the ex Dave Ball car, finishing 10th.
.
(pic Mark Stabler)
.
(pic Mark Stabler)
Stewert Lyddall blissfully
unaware of his penalty kept a comfortable margin ahead of Chris Palmer to
the chequered flag. Had Stewert realised the situation, he probably could
have made up the 6 seconds to still claim victory. This is not F1 however!
Thanks to Mark Stabler for many of
the pics on this page
|
POSS
|
NAME
|
CLASS |
MALLORY PARK
|
PICTURE / LINK
|
CAR No.
|
CC
|
QUAL
|
|
|
|
1
|
Chris Palmer
|
E
|
...
|
|
9
|
4L
|
3
|
|
2
|
Stewert Lyddall
|
G
|
Click on Pic for more details>>>>>>
|
|
23
|
5.3L
|
1
|
|
3
|
Andrew Harrison
|
D
|
.
|
|
5
|
4L
|
2
|
|
4
|
Paul Merrett
|
E
|
.
|
|
73
|
4L
|
4
|
|
5
|
Ray Hill
|
E
|
.
|
|
37
|
4L
|
6
|
|
6
|
Roger Webster
|
E
|
Click on Pic>>>>
|
|
42
|
4L
|
5
|
|
7
|
Ian Drage
|
D
|
.
|
 |
31
|
3.6L
|
7
|
|
8
|
Simon Seath
|
D
|
..
|
|
17
|
3.6L
|
8
|
|
9
|
Philip Comer
|
D
|
.Click on Pic
for more info>>>>
|
|
71
|
3.6L
|
9
|
|
10
|
Peter Burton
|
G
|
. |
|
69
|
6L
|
10
|
|
11
|
Bob Beecham
|
D
|
.
|
|
34
|
4L
|
11
|
|
DNF
|
John Gregory
|
E
|
An.
|
|
74
|
4L
|
12
|
GOSSIP.
Simon Seath keen to be a bit
nearer the front end, is hoping to fit a 4L lump to the green machine ASAP.
The subject of tyres was as
ever a hot topic in the paddock, amongst the discussions was the old chestnut
T1R's being unsuitable for high performance racing Jaguars. This was not
a view shared by all, but I would bet 20p that if 888's were the control
tyre we would see more than 12 cars on the grid (even in these difficult
times)!!!!!
Kevin Doyle's quest to encourage
more drivers back to the PBJ series seems to be gathering momentumn, with
no less than 11 entries! It is worth noting that Philip comer using 888's
(class D) was about 2.5 seconds faster than Roger Webster T1R's (class E).
Roger's lap times were marginally quicker than Philip's in the XJS race!
Paul Merrett was keen to show
me how well his class E car had straightened out after the coming together
with Stewert Lyddalls car at Snetteron. There are indeed few signs of the
damage that looked terminal after the smash.
It was good to see Andy Gardner
out with the Jaguars again. This time in a Canary yellow 4L Jaguar powered
Vauxhall Firenza! PBJ PICS
