Defending Radical Challenge Champion Dominik Jackson led a successful weekend for the RAW Motorsports team, with a winning treble at Spa Francorchamps.
Race 1: In the first race Jackson settled in second behind poleman and title rival Jerome De Sadeleer, as both pulled well clear of the rest of the field in the early laps.
But Jackson stuck close and his persistence was rewarded on lap four, when he got a run on his rival and snatch the lead. “I knew it would be tight again with Jerome, but we had to be consistent,” he said. De Sadeleer was forced to retire after eight laps with a damaged upright, which gave Jackson a huge advantage, which he converted to a win by over 26 seconds.
Team mate John Macleod joined him on the podium, after a strong but hard fought third, after taking the advantage over fellow RAW Spencer Bourne following the pitstops. “We had a fuel pump go in qualifying so could have been higher up. I had been third into the first corner but couldn’t hold it, but gained places under braking in the second half after a great stop and was catching Brian Caudwell for second at the end,” he explained. Bourne retained fourth and with Rod Goodman fifth and son Elliot ninth, RAW had five of the top 10 finishers.
Race 2: Jackson hit the front from the opening lap of race two, but with De Sadeleer losing out at the start, his pursuit began on the second lap, by which time Jackson was well on his way to a second win of the day. It was another strong race for Macleod too. His early sixth place became fourth from lap four, missing his second podium of the day by only 0.3 secs. “I was so close to getting Macrae after another good start, I was strong on the brakes but not quick enough on the straights,” he added. Bourne completed the top six and both Rod and Elliot Goodman were in the top 10 again with eighth and 10th respectively, split my another RAW team mate Mark Hignett. So it was six out of the top 10 on this occasion.
Race 3: Jackson had pole for the final race of the weekend, but found himself chasing De Sadeleer again as they made an early break from their rivals. But a quick and decisive call for Jackson to pit under the safety car proved the winning combination. De Sadeleer stayed out another lap and rejoined well down, whereas Jackson was out in second place, chasing novice John Macrae.A patient drive from the defending champion saw him take the lead from lap 14, cruising to his third win, a clean sweep and back into the Championship lead. “We really were expecting second with our success penalty, but the safety car gave us an opportunity and the team made a good call,” he said.
Macleod already had two strong finishes under his belt, but the third was even better. He was never out of the top four, pitted from fourth and then ousted Macrae for third with four laps remaining and almost snatched second from Jac Constable on the last lap. “We had both got Elliot when he ran wide at La Source and then passed Macrae, but I wanted another lap,” he explained.Both Elliot Goodman and Bourne finished strongly too to net fourth and fifth in the closing laps, with Rod Goodman rounding off the top 10, half of which were RAW run cars again.