Jackson wins Oulton race three

Date published : 05 Jun 2011 - 17:32:13

Mat Jackson won the reversed-grid British Touring Car race at Oulton Park this afternoon.The Motorbase Ford Focus driver started the event from pole and overcame the fast-starting Nick Foster (WSR BMW) on the opening lap.Race one winner Gordon Shedden (Honda Civic) soon followed Jackson through. He stayed around a second behind, but could not challenge and eventually fell back to settle for second.Once ahead of Foster, Eurotech Racing's Andrew Jordan looked secure in third until he was caught by the flying Matt Neal. His Civic had started 18th, but carved through the field - passing old rival Jason Plato among many others - to challenge Jordan for third in the closing stages.With less than three laps to go, Neal dived down the inside of Jordan into the Knickerbrook chicane. Both outbraked themselves, Neal going across the grass and Jordan down the escape road. Jordan emerged ahead and held on to complete the podium.A long way behind, a fine multi-car battle for fifth was eventually won by the Special Tuning Racing SEAT Leon of Tom Boardman, just ahead of Arena Ford Focus duo Andy Neate and Tom Chilton.Boardman's new team-mate Dave Newsham also pipped Foster in the closing stages to secure ninth.Behind final points-scorer Jeff Smith came Plato's Chevrolet Cruze. He had been battling the WSR BMWs of Foster and Rob Collard for fifth when an overtaking move at Lodge resulted in the two cars going off. Collard also spun, eventually coming home 14th.Results - 17 lapsPos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Mat Jackson Motorbase Ford 26m21.782s 2. Gordon Shedden Honda + 4.388s 3. Andrew Jordan Eurotech Vauxhall + 6.489s 4. Matt Neal Honda + 6.933s 5. Tom Boardman Special Tuning SEAT + 27.307s 6. Andy Neate Arena Ford + 27.508s 7. Tom Chilton Arena Ford + 28.276s 8. Dave Newsham Special Tuning SEAT + 29.172s 9. Nick Foster WSR BMW + 30.256s10. Jeff Smith Eurotech Vauxhall + 34.334s11. Jason Plato Chevrolet + 35.787s12. Tony Gilham Triple 8 Vauxhall + 37.036s13. James Nash Triple 8 Vauxhall + 42.575s14. Rob Collard WSR BMW + 43.886s15. Lea Wood Central Honda + 46.972s16. Rob Austin Austin Audi + 1m00.045s17. Tony Hughes Speedworks Toyota + 1m09.560s18. Alex MacDowall Chevrolet + 2 lapsRetirements: John George Tech-Speed Chevrolet 15 laps Liam Griffin Motorbase Ford 12 laps Frank Wrathall Dynojet Toyota 4 laps Paul O'Neill Tech-Speed Chevrolet 0 laps