Thompson wins Oulton race three

The two-time champion started the reversed grid race from pole position in his Team Dynamics Honda, and then made a good enough start to hold on to the lead into the first corner from fellow-front row starter Andrew Jordan.

In what was a processional race at the very front of the field, Thompson beat Vauxhall driver Jordan by 2.3 seconds.

Matt Neal finished third in the second Vauxhall and reclaimed the lead of the championship from Colin Turkington in the process.

The Vauxhall driver, who had earlier ended Jonathan Adam's chance of a podium when he hit the Motorbase BMW at the Island hairpin, had to fend off a determined effort from Adam's team-mate Rob Collard late on though, after he had previously driven superbly to come up from the back row of the grid to fourth place.

Jason Plato was fifth in the best of the RML Chevrolets, ahead of Fabrizio Giovanardi, who had a lonely drive to sixth in his Vauxhall.

Just like Collard, Mat Jackson started from the rear of the field after a gearbox problem in race two. He fought his way up to eighth by the chequered flag.

Significantly, he hit Turkington's WSR BMW during the closing stages of the race while battling for ninth, causing damage to the rear end of the German machine.

Turkington was out-dragged by Alan Morrison's Arena Ford out of the last corner of the race for the last point, leaving him two points adrift of Neal in the championship.

Pos  Driver               Car        Time
 1.  James Thompson       Honda      22m24.113s
 2.  Andrew Jordan        Vauxhall    +  2.284s
 3.  Matt Neal            Vauxhall    +  4.114s
 4.  Rob Collard          BMW         +  4.336s
 5.  Jason Plato          Chevrolet   +  4.927s
 6.  Fabrizio Giovanardi  Vauxhall    +  7.366s
 7.  Adam Jones           SEAT        + 10.705s
 8.  Mat Jackson          Chevrolet   + 11.272s
 9.  Paul O'Neill         Honda       + 13.394s
10.  Alan Morrison        Ford        + 15.186s
11.  Colin Turkington     BMW         + 15.212s
12.  Harry Vaulkhard      Chevrolet   + 18.256s
13.  Jonathan Adam        BMW         + 20.181s
14.  Dan Eaves            SEAT        + 20.847s
15.  Martyn Bell          Honda       + 41.392s
16.  John George          Honda       + 42.860s
17.  James Nash           Chevrolet   +   1 lap

Retirements:

     David Pinkney        Honda      14
     Stephen Jelley       BMW        14
     Tom Chilton          Ford       12
     Martin Johnson       Vauxhall   11