Mat Jackson has scored his first Dunlop MSA British Touring Car win in the third race of the day at
Oulton Park after holding back the race long advances of
Jason Plato for a famous victory.
A firm crowd favourite, Jackson's win proved a popular one after resisting increasing pressure from Plato as the race wore on, although the SEAT driver will be content with second as it moves him back into the joint lead of the championship when arch-rival Fabrizio Giovanardi failed to finish.
An eventful final race of the day on a dry circuit, Jackson utilised the strength of his Jackson M-Sport-run
BMW 320si off the line to thread between front row sitters Adam Jones and Darren Turner and lead into the first corner.
However, there was yet more drama behind when
Matt Neal got out of shape exiting Old Hall after slight contact with Plato, the momentum turning his Civic round. His accident though managed to involve race two winner
Colin Turkington after clipping the back of him as he swept past, as well as Mika Jordan who jutted right in avoidance and in doing so pushed Giovanardi alongside him off.
While Jordan spun and managed to recover otherwise unscathed at the back of the field, Giovanardi hit the barriers head on to rearrange the front of his VX Racing Vectra. Turkington wouldn't get much further either when he slid off at Cascades, bringing a disappointing end to an otherwise strong day for the Team RAC driver.
With Neal, Giovanardi and Turkington out – together with the failure to start for Gareth Howell, David Pinkney, Simon Blanckely and Jason Hughes – a slightly slimmer field returned round to the waiting safety car, with Jackson in the lead, Jones second, Turner third, Plato fourth and
Tom Onslow-Cole fifth, having made a brilliant start from 13th. Even more surprising had been Chris Stockton in fifth place, only for him to pull his Lexus into the pit lane after just a lap behind the safety car having slipped back to ninth.
