Neal beats Jackson in photo finish

Date published : 19 Jun 2011 - 12:05:39

Matt Neal pipped Mat Jackson by 0.055 seconds to win the first British Touring Car race at Croft this afternoon.Rain before the start forced most people onto wets, but Jackson - starting ninth - opted for slicks on the fronts and wets on the rear for his Motorbase Ford Focus.Poleman Jason Plato led initially but a slide at the first corner allowed Neal's Honda Civic and Rob Collard's WSR BMW ahead.Gordon Shedden moved his Civic through to fourth early on, but could not quite challenge Plato, while Jackson fell as low as 12th.The Focus was over 20 seconds behind Neal when Tony Gilham's Triple 8 Vauxhall Vectra went off at Clervaux, bringing out the safety car.With the circuit drying, Jackson was the fastest man on track when the race resumed for the last seven laps. He charged through the field, at one point passing the battling Tom Boardman (Special Tuning SEAT) and Alex MacDowall (works Chevrolet Cruze) around the outside at the hairpin, and started the last lap in fourth, right behind the lead trio.He powered past Plato on the exit of Tower, and a small nudge on Collard's rear at Sunny helped the Focus into second. Jackson then closed on Neal through the complex and got a great drive out of the final hairpin.The Focus drew alongside Neal, but the Honda held on to win by a nose, while Collard and Plato completed the top four.Behind a lonely Shedden came Eurotech/Pirtek Racing's Andrew Jordan in sixth, followed by Tom Chilton's Arena Motorsport Ford Focus.James Nash, who started sixth, was another runner to try a slicks-wets tyre combination. He also moved through in the closing stages, but the Triple 8 Vectra driver had lost too much ground in the early going and could only recover to eighth.Results - 17 laps:Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Matt Neal Honda 28m27.486s 2. Mat Jackson Motorbase Ford + 0.055s 3. Rob Collard WSR BMW + 1.668s 4. Jason Plato Chevrolet + 2.547s 5. Gordon Shedden Honda + 7.854s 6. Andrew Jordan Eurotech Vauxhall + 10.324s 7. Tom Chilton Arena Ford + 13.044s 8. James Nash Triple 8 Vauxhall + 13.239s 9. Paul O'Neill Tech-Speed Chevrolet + 14.016s10. Tom Boardman Special Tuning SEAT + 18.675s11. Tom Onslow-Cole Arena Ford + 19.356s12. Frank Wrathall Dynojet Toyota + 19.506s13. Nick Foster WSR BMW + 21.639s14. Alex MacDowall Chevrolet + 26.845s15. Jeff Smith Eurotech Vauxhall + 27.139s16. Lea Wood Central Honda + 29.556s17. Shaun Hollamby AmD Volkswagen + 38.710s18. Liam Griffin Motorbase Ford + 49.523s19. Dave Newsham Special Tuning SEAT + 1 lapRetirements: Andy Neate Arena Ford 16 laps Tony Gilham Triple 8 Vauxhall 7 laps John George Tech-Speed Chevrolet 3 laps Rob Austin Austin Audi 3 laps Chris James ES Chevrolet 2 laps