MAT Jackson was involved in a thriller on a dramatic day of racing in the HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship at Croft Circuit today.

The North Yorkshire track was playing host to rounds 13, 14 and 15 of the championship.

And heavy rain meant the opener was certainly unlucky for many drivers, the water causing havoc and leading to the race being red-flagged twice, once when a marshal was hit by a car.

He escaped serious injury after being struck by the stricken BMW of Stephen Jelley after it was ploughed into by the Honda Integra of Whitley Bays Alan Taylor at Tower.

As if to illustrate the difficulty drivers were having, Newcastle-raised Jason Plato, a championship contender, even went off on the formation lap!

Jelley's team-mate Colin Turkington was declared the winner of the dramatically shortened race, which, for a time, looked like being the only action of the day as the rain continued to pour down.

However, the conditions improved for the round 14 and the thousands that had braved the weather were treated to a stellar performance from BMW Dealer Team UK driver Jackson.

The 26-year-old from Henley-in-Arden began the race in dead last, having had an off at Tower in the opener while leading.

But in one of the finest drives the championship has seen, Jackson made amends by picking off his rivals one by one.

Some deft manoeuvres and use of the Beemers terrific power on the straights, saw him rising higher and higher in the field until he was within sight of a podium finish.

On lap 14 of the 16 he managed to get by the Motorbase BMW of Rob Collard and the crowd began to wonder if he could achieve Mission: Impossible.

Matt Neal was his next victim, the VX Racing Vauxhall Vectra no match for Jackson's traction.

With just two laps to go however, time was against him if he was to get past Turkington, who had led from the off.

Going into the hairpin before the start-finish straight, Turkington's car twitched as it fought for grip and Jackson saw a chance.

But the RAC car closed the door just in time and made it to the line just .101 of a second ahead.

"As we got through the race we could see that Colin was coming back to us which was quite a surprise and we thought hey we could be on for the win here," Jackson said. "We got held up behind Adam Jones, which was unfortunate and I think it cost us a good shot at Turkington on the last lap.

"Colin was obviously struggling with his tyres (at the end), as we all were, and when I saw him go sideways I thought hey, this could be good.

"But it's always very scary - you don't want to put your nose in, you've come so far, he turns in and you both end up going out for nothing really, so for the sake of two points it was probably best to do what we did."

Jackson said he hoped he had put on a show worthy of the championship for the sodden spectators.

"It was hard work inside the car, but hopefully it was exciting for all the many fans that turned up today," he said. "Conditions werent ideal and hopefully it gave them something to buzz about."

Neal finished third and championship leader Fabrizio Giovanardi, who had come fourth in race one, added a fifth to his tally.

Plato, running second in the series, but who failed to score in the opener, finished eighth.

The circuit had further dried out for the final race, which saw the grid reversed.

Starting from third, Giovanardi scored his first win of the day after spending the opening laps trapped behind Collard, but once past was never headed.

The Italian, the defending champion, also set the race's fastest lap to score a bonus point which gave him a commanding 23-point championship lead over team-mate Neal, who finished third.

Splitting the two Vauxhall drivers was the independent Team Air Cool SEAT Leon of Adam Jones - equalling his best-ever previous result of second.

Plato and SEAT team-mate Darren Turner both came to grief in contact with other drivers. Plato's Leon TDI rode high up the side of Turkington's car and was left to trail around at the tail of the field. Turner, meanwhile, went out shortly after a safety car period in a tangle with Jackson at the opening bend, Clervaux.

"This just hasn't been our weekend," said Leon TDI driver Plato. "The team did a great job on Saturday and we qualified well, but it just didn't happen for us on race day.

"We know where we went wrong. We didn't consider the brake pads wouldn't work in the wet; they were too grippy at the front and didn't work at the rear, and that caused both Darren and I to go off.

"We had no traction at all in race two and I collected damage in race three. We have to take this disappointment on the chin."