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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