Results for Round 2 - 2006
Phillip Island - Sunday, 14th May 2006

Round winner for Sprinters - Brian Wheeler

The Weather Man…. Brian Wheeler, dominated the Phillip Island track with a display of controlled driving, sensible strategy and a bit of luck. Brian was the only Jaguar driver in group 2. Each of his three timed sessions was run on a drier track than the rest of the Sprinters and Lites drivers. However in his last session, he went out hard on the first lap having assessed that rain would fall during that session.

Sinclair in the dummy grid in the rain

But it was the combination of the Jaguar and Wheeler that produced one of the best drives seen for a long time. Brian was competing against a field of 51 entries consisting of XU1’s, V8 Commodores and Fords but managed to overcome brute horsepower, with a controlled display of driving. Brian recorded the second fastest overall time in the first session, third fastest in the second session and sixth fastest in the final session.

It has been a long time since a Jaguar has recorded a podium finish. The other Jaguars were lapping in respective times but were hampered by intermittent rain that prevented the track from drying out completely.

Mackrell leading Redel at Honda

Kenna, Randall and Leyton did not enter the round. Practice saw Duncalf withdraw along with Crosbie who was having his first run in 12 months in a Sprinter having purchased the ex Anthony Larkins car. Crosbie only managed a few laps when the head gasket started to leak, similar to problems suffered in his former green coloured Lite. John Larkins, eligibility officer for the series, put it down to having installed the wrong distributor as Mike had transferred the same unit from his Lite.

Wheeler dominated the first timed session with a time of 1.58.53, nearly 3 seconds faster than Mulholland (2.02.37) and 20 seconds under third fastest, Sinclair (2.18.25). Trevor Mackrell made a welcome return to the track, in over a year. His immaculate black Sprinter was dusted off and it was not long before his lap times dropped. His first session time was 2.32.03 but this was lowered to 2.04.13 in the second session.

A Larkins in front of J larkins	Pearmain under A larkins

The Larkin family, John, his son Anthony along with Gary Scott, made up the Lites class. Anthony, in a new car lapped in 2.50.65, with Gary on 2.37.69 and John taking the first session with a 2.36.43.

Jim Mulholland

The second session was basically dry for all competitors. Wheeler posted a 1.58.70, closely followed by Mulholland (1.59.47); Redel (co-driver in the Jagdaim entry) was third fastest with 2.00.29, then Pearmain (2.02.26), Mackrell (2.03.31) and Sinclair (2.04.13). Scott reversed the placings for the Lites with a 2.13.36 and John Larkins recording 2.17.53. Anthony Larkins stopped on the warm up lap with the alternator belt snapping, dislodging an electrical lead, bringing the car to a halt before he could record a time.

Trevor Mackrell taking the corner with ease

A dry first lap was all it took for Wheeler to take the third session points with a time of 1.58.97 before the rain returned adding some thirteen seconds to his lap times. Mulholland and Sinclair raced on a wet track and their times were slow. Redel and Sinclair, (who was driving two Sprinters at the meeting), also had a wet track for their first two laps before the red flag was shown due to a Mustang hitting the dirt wall, drivers left exiting Siberia. Redel took the re-run on a drying track and recorded the second fastest time for the session with a 2.19.68. All of the Lites drivers failed to front for their last run because of the deteriorating weather conditions.

CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS TABLE AND LAP TIMES FOR 2006 SERIES

JAGDAIM XJ6 SPRINTERS SERIES

Garry Scott Round Winner in the Lites

JAGDAIM XJ6 LITES SERIES

* DNC Did not compete
*NTL Did not record a timed lap

Phil Pearmain	Rob Sinclair

Round 3 of the Championship series will be run at Winton on Saturday 10th June with former speedway racer, Andrew Kemp from NSW, entering his series 2, Street Stock Dirt Speedway Jaguar. Andrew has been modifying his car, inserting a windscreen, removing rivets that lock the doors, and exchanging dirt rubber for track tyres. It will be very interesting to see how a former speedway car can adapt to the track. Andrew’s car was featured in a report on page #96 in edition #122 of the Jag Mag.

The remaining race dates for 2006 are as follows:

Round 4 Sandown Sunday 13th August
Round 5 Philip Island Sunday 15th October
Round 6 Sandown Saturday 4th November

You can also follow our series in The Jag Magazine which is available bi-monthly.

David Bailey Photography has joined our Association and he will be supplying images for our website and magazine reports, commencing with this report. You can visit his website at: www.dcb-photo.com or contact him on Mb 0416 026 252.

Ross Coles
Secretary
Jaguar XJ Sprinters Drivers Association
Contact: Phone 0417351304 or email:


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