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BTCC Croft: Mat Jackson fends off Ash Sutton for race three win

Motorbase Ford Focus driver Mat Jackson narrowly fended off Ash Sutton for his first British Touring Car Championship win of the season at Croft in race three

Mat Jackson started on the front row alongside AmD Tuning Audi driver Ollie Jackson, but Mat Jackson tapped the back of his rival going into Sunny In on lap three.

That gave the Ford man a big advantage from second placed Rob Austin (Handy Motorsport Toyota Avensis) as he held off a queue of rivals behind.

Sutton quickly worked his way onto Austin's tail after despacthing Team BMR Subaru Levorg team-mate Jason Plato just before half-distance, taking the inside line and the position at the final hairpin.

Sutton powered ahead of Austin soon after and slashed Mat Jackson's four-second advantage to nothing as the pair started the final lap. Despite running side-by-side out of the final corner, Mat Jackson held on.

"That was a tough race," said Mat Jackson. "I could see Austin in second place and I took things steady, I wanted to save the car for later on in the race.

"Then I saw one of those rear-wheel-drive cars in my mirror and I knew I was in for a fight.

"Sutton went for it around the outside, and I wasn't going to let him have it."

Sutton was delighted with second place. "I was held up a bit getting past Jason, because I knew it had to be a good move, but I could see the leaders getting away.

"And on the last lap - what racing driver wouldn't try something? I had to, but Mat ran me out of road. That's how it goes."

Behind Sutton, Plato worked hard to unseat Austin from third place and managed it as the cars powered out of the final corner, sealing the place by 0.04s.

Matt Neal in the Team Dynamics Honda Civic climbed from 18th on the grid to seal fifth position with a stirring drive, and he headed WSR BMW 125i WSR team-mates Colin Turkington and Andrew Jordan.

The third WSR BMW, Rob Collard, had been shuffled down the pack after running in fifth initially as Neal powered through, and he regain the track for eighth place.

Gordon Shedden (Team Dynamics Civic) and Ollie Jackson rounded out the top 10.

RESULTS - 16 LAPS

Pos Driver Team Car Gap
1 Mat Jackson Motorbase Ford 24m06.484s
2 Ash Sutton Team BMR Subaru 0.877s
3 Jason Plato Team BMR Subaru 16.032s
4 Rob Austin Handy Motorsport Toyota 16.073s
5 Matt Neal Dynamics/Honda Honda 16.517s
6 Colin Turkington WSR BMW 16.779s
7 Andrew Jordan WSR BMW 17.575s
8 Rob Collard WSR BMW 19.360s
9 Gordon Shedden Dynamics/Honda Honda 21.336s
10 Ollie Jackson AmD Tuning Audi 21.800s
11 Martin Depper Motorbase Ford 22.157s
12 Adam Morgan Ciceley Racing Mercedes 22.487s
13 Chris Smiley BTC Racing Chevrolet 23.397s
14 Senna Proctor Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall 25.645s
15 Dave Newsham BTC Racing Chevrolet 29.078s
16 Tom Ingram Speedworks Motorsport Toyota 29.747s
17 Ant Whorton-Eales AmD Tuning Audi 30.252s
18 Matt Simpson Dynamics/Honda Honda 35.417s
19 Jake Hill Team Hard Volkswagen 37.121s
20 Tom Chilton Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall 37.899s
21 Jack Goff Eurotech Racing Honda 40.379s
22 Dennis Strandberg Maximum Motorsport Ford 40.975s
23 Josh Cook Triple Eight/MG MG 1 Lap
- Josh Price Team BMR Subaru Retirement
- Stephen Jelley Team Parker Racing Ford Retirement
- James Cole Team BMR Subaru Retirement
- Aiden Moffat Laser Tools Racing Mercedes Retirement
- Will Burns Team Hard Volkswagen Retirement
- Michael Epps Team Hard Volkswagen Retirement

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