Mat Jackson has taken this third win in a row in race two this afternoon, leading from pole position to beat Matt Neal and Colin Turkington. It was another strong race for BMW’s with four of the top five cars being the rear-wheel drive machines.
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Before the race even began the newly-crowned champion Fabrizio Giovanardi was in trouble. The Italian’s mixed weekend continued as, after his first finish outside the top ten in race one, he was forced to sit out race two when his Vauxhall Vectra’s engine refused to start up.
As the lights went out Jackson got a perfect start to fend off the equally-strong starts of the other BMW’s. Rob Collard beat team-mate Steven Kane into second, whilst Turkington slipped back, allowing Jason Plato and Matt Neal past. Further back in the pack Tom Onslow-Cole saved a huge slide along the Cooper straight in the exact same place he had a huge accident earlier in the year, losing him two places.
Jackson was able to build up a lead of several seconds through the opening period of the race, helped somewhat by Collard not having the pace to keep up. Indeed, a queue of cars including Kane, Plato, Neal and Turkington began to form behind the lead Motorbase car, which culminated on lap 10 when Neal forcefully attempted to pass Plato’s SEAT. The impact to the side of Plato’s car caused steering damage, forcing him into retirement.
Neal managed to power past Kane on lap 16, outdragging and outbraking the Northern Irishman into paddock hill bend after getting a good run out of the previous corner and along the main straight. Turkington was also able to follow through past his countryman into fourth place. Only a handful of laps later the duo had reeled in Collard and performed exactly the same move, Turkington following through once again to minimise the damage that Jackson was doing to his lead in the independents championship.
Tom Chilton was a solid runner in the midfield, and eventually crossed the line in sixth position. “All the cars were equally on the pace and it was a case of pushing hard through the field,” he said after the race.
With the finish virtually in sight, an unlucky late-race casualty was Darren Turner who picked up a puncture whilst running in seventh position. Despite finishing last, he was classified as a non-finisher. His demise promoted Andrew Jordan up to seventh, with Onslow-Cole finishing eighth, Gordon Shedden ninth after a quiet race and Mike Jordan coming home in tenth.
As a result of yet another win, Jackson will be going all out once again in the final race as he sets his eyes on taking second place in the championship. With Plato failing to finish, and Jackson taking all of the available bonus points this race, he is now only 5 points behind. Jackson could also mathematically steal the independents championship off Turkington, although he would need 12 more points than his rival in the final race of the year to do so.
The reverse grid draw for the final race of the day sees eighth placed Tom Onslow-Cole starting on pole position, withy Andrew Jordan alongside once again on the front row. Interestingly, Plato and Giovanardi will be starting on the same row back in 20th and 21st places respectively as a result of their problems in race 2. The final round of the year is scheduled to take place at approximately 1630.
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