There has been little to separate RAW team Mates Steve Burgess and Dominik Jackson in this year’s Radical Challenge, but things got a little too close at Rockingham.Race 1:In the first race Burgess led from pole, but had Jackson shadowing him until the pit stop window opened. Jackson was first to stop, with Burgess in a lap later, but success penalties left them with a difficult fightback in the second half.
“I had a good start and managed to hold off Dom. We had changed the set up and had some oversteer though,” Burgess explained. He was back into third and chasing down Jerome De Sadeleer, when he spun on the 20th lap. “I was pushing too hard and spun at the Deene Hairpin,” he explained.The spin had dropped him to fourth behind team mate Marcello Marateotto, who had a sensational start from row nine to fifth on the opening lap.Jackson also had a spin though, “I had been right with Steve but spun at the Hairpin just before the stops and De Sadeleer got me,” he said.
It had become a RAW train though as behind Burgess was Elliot Goodman, followed by Jackson and John Macleod.Burgess made it back into third with four laps remaining, while Marateotto retained fourth, with Jackson fifth despite collecting a track limits penalty. “I had got Steve when he spun, but then I spun in the same place and he took the place back,” said Marateotto.Goodman was seventh, but had spun in the second half, from where the resultant contact damaged Macleod’s car too. They had continued in sixth and seventh, until Macleod had to serve a stop go penalty for pitlane speeding, dropping him to 11th. Goodman finally finished seventh and Barry Liversidge was ninth.Race 2:There were only five racing laps in the second race, in between three separate safety car interventions before the race was red flagged.The unsighted Marateotto had become a first lap victim at Yentwood, while at the front Burgess just had the edge over Jackson again.After three laps the green flag was waved, but for one lap only. It went green again for lap nine, but a lap later into Deene Hairpin Jackson was on the attack. With inches to spare they headed into Chapman Curve and Jackson went for the inside. There was contact and Burgess was in the gravel, while De Sadeleer shot by to take the victory again.“I had felt in control but frustrated as we weren’t racing. There was no way through where Dom tried and I was run off the track,” said Burgess.“Steve had either got the Hairpin wrong or just seemed slower, so I was much closer and went for it,” Jackson replied.
Although Jackson continued to take second on the road, a post-race penalty dropped him to 11th and last place.With both Jackson and third placed Brian Caudwell collecting penalties, Elliot Godman found himself promoted to second, with Macleod fifth, Rod Goodman eighth and Oli Marateotto ninth, after Liversidge went out in the red flag incident.Race 3:The tide finally turned in Jackson’s favour in the final race of the weekend, after both he and Burgess started well down the grid.
Jackson was already into third from the fifth row of the grid on the opening lap, before hunting down Mark Richards for second. He was through by lap seven as Richards locked up into Deene Hairpin, and with leader De Sadeleer having a huge success penalty, Jackson was a dominant leader throughout the second half.Both Marateotto and Goodman had strong finishes too, moving into fourth and fifth after Burgess had diff failure three laps before another red flag. “I could feel it losing power, so knew something was going,” said Burgess
Marateotto held onto fourth, but Goodman lost out to Kristian Jeffrey, while Macleod had another top 10 finish in eighth. “Another sensational start,” said Marateotto. “I had a bad Turn One so it was sharp elbows after that,” Macleod added.