Mat Jackson takes championship lead at Snetterton

Motorbase Performance Ford driver Mat Jackson has taken the lead of the championship at Snetterton after winning the final race of the day from Paul O’Neill and Jason Plato.

Jackson moved ahead of polesitter Dave Newsham’s STR SEAT on the second lap and built a lead of three seconds to take his fourth win of the season.

Newsham held on to second for another four laps before being passed by the Tech-Speed Motorsport Chevrolet Cruze of Paul O’Neill.

Matt Neal finished fourth after starting 17th to take his first points of the day, and close back in on his team-mate Gordon Shedden in the standings. Shedden was running behind the Chevrolet Cruzes of Plato and MacDowall before the front-left wing came loose on his Civic. As the bodywork dangled further away from the car, the mechanical black flag was called for the Scotsman, who instead managed to take off the offending part with a strategic pass on a trackside marker, causing the flag to be withdrawn.

On the penultimate lap, Newsham was passed by Jason Plato, with Matt Neal also passing the SEAT on the final lap. MacDowall was next, edging the SEAT wide and off the track, seeing the Inverness-driver drop from third to eighth in the space of a lap.

Mat Jackson now takes the lead of the drivers’ championship with 158 points, with the two Honda drivers behind him with Shedden on 150 and Matt Neal on 148.

Jason Plato’s strong weekend has seen the Chevrolet driver close up in fourth, just ten points adrift of Neal.

The next round of the championship is at Knockhill in Scotland on September 4th.