EXPERIENCED race ace Francis Phillips lit up the Monoposto Championship at the weekend with a double win at Pembrey, South Wales.

The Kidderminster 52-year-old jumped from seventh to third in the table after a fine display in his Ralt RT3 ex-Formula 3 car.

Phillips is now preparing for the next round at Brands Hatch on July 14 and then one of the biggest events of his season at Belgium's Spa circuit on July 20.

The project manager, who has raced and built cars as a hobby for more than 30 years, put many of his younger opponents in their place at Pembrey.

Phillips said: "I had a win or two last year but was struggling and haven't seemed able to get on the pace.

"All of a sudden, everything went well at the weekend."

He qualified third for the first race in Wales and then secured pole position for the second after winning by just 0.2 of a second.

Phillips had championship leader Jim Blockley under pressure from the start of race one.

A textbook slipstreaming move and out-brake into the hairpin enabled him to pass Blockley and close on front-man Robin Dawe.

But Dawe span off, enabling Phillips to record his first win of the season.

He built on his success in race two by taking full advantage of pole position in a nip-and-tuck race.

Blockley kept up constant pressure but faultless Phillips made good use of the back markers in the late stages to win again.

Another Kidderminster man, Lee Bennett, is still adapting to life in the championship after moving up a class.