Motorbase Performance’s Mat Jackson secured victory in a thrilling, truncated race two at Snetterton, with Colin Turkington and Matt Neal completing the podium positions.
Jackson did the double on Turkington, getting the leap on the Silverline Subaru BMR Racing man on the opening lap – both in the first instance and again on the restart after a red flag had halted proceedings.
The Focus fired off the line beyond second-placed Gordon Shedden and then past pole man Turkington, before a multi-car collision sparked chaos down the order. Aron Smith and Kelvin Fletcher had a coming together on the exit of turn one, but the main drama came later in the lap when Dan Welch and Ollie Jackson tangled as they ran on to the Bentley Straight. With dust filling the air an unsighted Alex Martin, Hunter Abbott and Ashley Sutton were all caught up in the accident. With stationary cars now littering the track, and several with heavy damage, race officials were left with no choice but to stop the race.
Take two and Jackson produced an almost carbon copy of his earlier effort – leaving Shedden off the line but waiting until Hamilton corner before disposing of Turkington. Jackson remained untroubled for the remainder of the shortened ten lap race, with Turkington following up his race one win with another solid rostrum in the second bout.
The fight for the final podium place was undecided until the final moments, with the battle initially raging following contact between Turkington and Shedden on lap two. Shedden’s Honda was then tagged twice by WIX Racing’s Adam Morgan, sending the reigning champion tumbling down the order.
Morgan couldn’t keep Neal’s Civic Type R behind him for long, and the Mercedes succumbed to the flying WSR BMW of Rob Collard, who had stormed from 16th to 4th in the early stages.
A duel between Neal and Collard followed, providing the best racing of the contest as the ran side-by-side for much of lap eight. Team JCT600 with GardX driver Collard looked to have made the move stick, but triple champion Neal immediately fought back to retake the position. The striking Halfords-backed Honda held on to reach the rostrum, but both drivers strengthened their respective championship challenges with stellar points finishes.
Morgan had to settle for fifth, ahead of Jason Plato, Tom Ingram and Sam Tordoff – the latter also benefitting from a reverse grid draw that places him on pole position for today’s final race.
Handy Motorsport’s Rob Austin claimed ninth, with the recovering Shedden completing the top ten order.
2016 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship – Round 17 – Snetterton:
1 Mat JACKSON (GBR) Motorbase Performance 19m48.288s2 Colin TURKINGTON (GBR) Silverline Subaru BMR Racing +1.190s3 Matt NEAL (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing +1.950s4 Robert COLLARD (GBR) Team JCT600 Racing with GardX +2.140s5 Adam MORGAN (GBR) WIX Racing +7.255s6 Jason PLATO (GBR) Silverline Subaru BMR Racing +7.687s7 Tom INGRAM (GBR) Speedworks Motorsport +8.421s8 Sam TORDOFF (GBR) Team JCT600 Racing with GardX +9.935s9 Rob AUSTIN (GBR) Handy Motorsport +11.649s10 Gordon SHEDDEN (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing +11.989s11 Aiden MOFFAT (GBR) Laser Tools Racing +13.238s12 Jake HILL (GBR) RCIB Insurance Racing +16.369s13 Josh COOK (GBR) MG Racing RCIB Insurance +16.506s14 Andrew JORDAN (GBR) Motorbase Performance +16.735s15 Jeff SMITH (GBR) Eurotech Racing +18.082s16 Warren SCOTT (GBR) Silverline Subaru BMR Racing +18.306s17 Matt SIMPSON (GBR) Speedworks Motorsport +18.606s18 Stewart LINES (GBR) Maximum Motorsport +27.324s19 Michael EPPS (GBR) RCIB Insurance Racing +27.760s20 Alex MARTIN (GBR) Dextra Racing +36.363s21 Mark HOWARD (GBR) BKR +42.175s22 Michael CAINE (GBR) TLC/RCIB Insurance Racing +2 laps23 Aron SMITH (IRL) BKR +3 laps24 Martin DEPPER (GBR) Eurotech Racing +4 laps25 Dan WELCH (GBR) Goodestone Racing 26 James COLE (GBR) Silverline Subaru BMR Racing27 Jack GOFF (GBR) Team IHG Rewards Club28 Ollie JACKSON (GBR) AmD Tuning.com29 Hunter ABBOTT (GBR) Power Maxed Racing30 Kelvin FLETCHER (GBR) Power Maxed Racing31 Ashley SUTTON (GBR) MG Racing RCIB Insurance
