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Jackson wins destructive race three

Mat Jackson took Motorbase Performance's first victory with the Ford Focus in the reversed grid British Touring Car round at Donington Park this afternoon

The race was marred by several accidents, which started even before the pack got to the first corner, when the fast-starting Dave Newsham lost control of his Geoff Steel Racing BMW on the grass, spun and hit the Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Avensis of Tony Hughes.

Poleman Alex MacDowall (RML Chevrolet Cruze) led into Redgate, but Tony Gilham's Triple 8 Engineering Vauxhall Vectra touched Tom Onslow-Cole's AmD Milltek VW Golf while squabbling over second. Gilham then clipped Rob Collard (WSR BMW), and the pack closed up on the run to the Old Hairpin, where contact between Jackson and James Nash (Triple 8 Vectra) resulted in Nash hitting Tom Chilton's Arena Motorsport Focus off the road and forcing him into Onslow-Cole. Both retired.

Jackson emerged in second and, after the ensuing safety car period, easily passed MacDowall out of Coppice. He then drove away to take a comfortable victory.

MacDowall soon came under attack from race two winner Andrew Jordan and the Eurotech Racing Vectra powered past the Cruze on the run out of the Old Hairpin at half-distance.

A recovering Nash soon followed, but neither Vectra could close down Jackson in the remaining laps.

A struggling Matt Neal (Honda Racing Civic), who had run third early on, got embroiled in a fight with Jeff Smith's Eurotech Vectra, which eventually cost both places.

Tom Boardman's Special Tuning Racing SEAT Leon then looked set for fifth, behind MacDowall, before his car failed him once again.

That left Andy Neate (Arena Focus), Smith and Gilham squabbling over the place. Neate and Gilham hit each other on the final lap, allowing Smith a clear run to fifth.

The RML squad managed to get Jason Plato out for the race, despite his race two crash. He rewarded them by taking advantage of the chaos to claim sixth after overcoming Neal in the closing stages.

Results - 19 laps:

Pos  Driver           Team/Car                Time/Gap
 1.  Mat Jackson      Motorbase Ford        24m32.921s
 2.  Andrew Jordan    Eurotech Vauxhall       + 2.640s
 3.  James Nash       Triple 8 Vauxhall       + 3.498s
 4.  Alex MacDowall   Chevrolet               + 5.761s
 5.  Jeff Smith       Eurotech Vauxhall      + 18.639s
 6.  Jason Plato      Chevrolet              + 20.614s
 7.  Matt Neal        Honda                  + 23.902s
 8.  Paul O'Neill     Tech-Speed Chevrolet   + 23.922s
 9.  Liam Griffin     Motorbase Ford         + 28.815s
10.  Nick Foster      WSR BMW                + 29.117s
11.  John George      Tech-Speed Chevrolet   + 42.375s
12.  Chris James      ES Chevrolet           + 52.158s
13.  Rob Austin       Austin Audi            + 58.304s

Retirements:

     Andy Neate       Motorbase Ford           18 laps
     Tony Gilham      Triple 8 Vauxhall        18 laps
     Rob Collard      WSR BMW                  17 laps
     Tom Boardman     Special Tuning SEAT      17 laps
     Dave Newsham     Geoff Steel BMW          14 laps
     Frank Wrathall   Dynojet Toyota            9 laps
     Gordon Shedden   Honda                     8 laps
     Tom Onslow-Cole  AmD Volkswagen             1 lap
     Tony Hughes      Speedworks Toyota          1 lap
     Tom Chilton      Arena Ford                0 laps

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