Magic Mat Can't Stop Tom Increasing SEAT Cupra Lead

09 August 2005

A broken turbo pipe robbed Mat Jackson of victory in Round 11 of the Smartnav SEAT Cupra Championship, but the 24-year old driver from Henley-in-Arden in the West Midlands made up for it by dominating Round 12 of the series in his Whale Tankers/Jackson Motorsport Leon Cupra R.

Both races took place at Snetterton circuit in Norfolk on Sunday (7 August) and having qualified on the front row of the grid for both 14 lap encounters, Mat was once again the driver on sparkling form. Starting Round 11 from pole, Mat galloped into a 4.254 second lead after only two laps and just as it looked like victory was assured he suddenly started to drop back. The turbo pipe had split and with his car down on power he limped on to finish 9th.

His despair was soon overtaken by determination, and in Round 12 he made a brilliant start from second on the grid to go around pole-sitter Carl Breeze (Blue Chip Group/Barwell Motorsport Leon Cupra R), break the lap record (1:16.365, which is an average speed of 92mph) and win by over three seconds.

Mat said: “I was gutted in the first race, but that result’s written now and there’s nothing I can do about it.  I thought ‘stuff this – I’m not going to win by a little bit, I’m going to win by as much as I can!’ Every lap was at qualifying pace and I’m really happy.  We have a great car, we’re the fastest out on the circuit and this Championship’s far from over."

It was a hard race weekend for Tom Boardman (Special Tuning UK/Triple R Leon Cupra R) who after his worst qualifying session of the season (two fourths) had to battle for every point he earned at Snetterton.  Yet the 21-year old driver from Forton in Lancashire won Round 11 and finished 3rd  in Round 12 to once again out-score all his rivals and extend his lead in the series.

Tom got tied up in a battle with Carl Breeze (Blue Chip Group/Barwell Motorsport Leon Cupra R) for second place in Round 11, which allowed Mat to pull away.  Tom inherited the lead when Mat hit problems and Carl ran off line slightly and clipped the tyre barrier on the apex of Coram and damaged his car’s steering.

It was a similar story in the next race.  As Mat pulled away, Tom Ferrier (Darwin/Team Parker Racing Leon Cupra R) joined Tom and Carl in an exciting three car battle for second place. Boardman overtook Ferrier at the Essess half way through the race and then tried six times to pull the same move on Breeze.  It didn’t work, despite Carl suffering understeer in the fast corners, and a late-braking effort on the very last corner of the last lap almost cost Boardman 3rd  place, as he got a little sideways and allowed Ferrier to close right up.  At the flag, Breeze held on to 2nd , Boardman was 3rd  while Ferrier was 4th.

Boardman said: “I lost time at the start of the second race because I couldn’t get into fourth gear at the first corner.  Eventually I overtook Tom Ferrier and I tried my hardest to get passed Carl Breeze but I didn’t want to make a mistake and risk not scoring points.  At the end of the day we’ve come away with more points than any one else and we’re two races closer to winning the title, so although I’m disappointed not to have won a race this weekend I’ve got to be happy with our position in the Championship.”

Alan Blencowe (Blue Diamond/Barwell Motorsport Leon Cupra R) has moved up to 5th  in the series.  He made a “really good start” in Round 11 and finished 3rd  (scoring a bonus point for the best improvement on grid position) and a “really bad start” in Round 12 and was forced onto the grass at the first corner by Adrian Churchill (Bedford Battery Co/Churchill Motorsport LeonCupra R).  Down in last place, he then spent the rest of the race trying to catch up and eventually finished 11th.

Adrian is unlikely to receive any Christmas cards this year from Dave Pinkney (Motorbase Performance Leon Cupra R), after he collided with Dave twice and contributed to him retiring from both races.  The first incident also saw Nick Leason (Cube Design/CMS Motorsport Leon Cupra R) hit from behind and spun around, as cars tried to avoid the pirouetting Cupras.

In contrast, brother Ian Churchill (Bedford Battery Co/Churchill Motorsport Leon Cupra R) had a fantastic weekend, and his two 4th  place finishes could have been two podiums as he drove superbly in what were the most exciting battles of both races.

Henry Taylor (Mortgage Strategy magazine/Total Control Racing Leon Cupra R) moved from 11th  to 8th  in the series after a virtuoso performance.  It wasn’t all plain-sailing for the 26-year old from Netherfield in East Sussex.  He was forced into a spin on the opening lap of Round 11 (by, you guessed it – Adrian Churchill) and fought back brilliantly to finish 5th  – while he also finished 5th in the next race.

Jonathan Young (Commercial Vehicle Direct/Triple R Leon Cupra R) made a good debut with his new team and enjoyed two strong performances which saw him finish 6th  in both races. Business commitments may have forced Chris Egginton (Harben Barker/Team GVR Leon Cupra R) to miss four races this year, yet two 7th  place finishes were great performances under the circumstances.

The youngest driver in the series, 19-year old Harry Vaulkhard (Fluid Design Solutions/JS Motorsport Leon Cupra R) continues to impress after another two good races, while a spin in each race cost Mike Doble (Castrol/Doble Motorsport Leon Cupra R) time as his race results fail to reflect his performance.

See series calendar for SEAT Cupra Championship 2005

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