Jackson 'takes it on the chin'.

Mat Jackson has vowed to put Thruxton behind him and focus on the future after a disastrous third meeting of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship season.

Jackson went into the weekend as leader of the Independents' title race but failed to see the flag in any of the three races at the wheel of his ex-Andy Priaulx BMW 320si.

Eager to not only extend his Indy lead but also move up the overall championship order, Jackson was only able to qualify in twelfth place and saw his challenge in the opening race come to an end at the Complex, when contact from Matt Neal pushed the BMW into the second Team Halfords Honda and left Mat to retire having lost a wheel.

"He squeezed me up to the edge of the track under braking which is fine, but then kept moving over and put me on the grass," he said. "That oversteps the mark in my book. I had no braking and went straight on into his team-mate Shedden who I felt quite sorry for."

The team worked hard to get Jackson back out onto the grid for the second race of the weekend, but it would prove to be in vain as an engine problem forced him out again and also sidelined him for the final race of the day.

"The engine was hitting the rev limiter way too early on the straights," he said. "Hopefully I killed the ignition before any major damage was done but we need to have a thorough examination. The same problem kept us back in twelfth in qualifying, but I knew we had good tyre wear so had expected to make up places in the races."

However, despite dropping to fourth in the Independent standings and eighth overall, Jackson refused to get downbeat and said he was hopeful of being back at the front when racing resumes next month at Croft.

"Everyone has a bad weekend and hopefully ours is now out of the way," he said. "We're strong enough to take this on the chin but we all know we can't afford for it to happen again," says Mat. "I've lost ground in the title race, but I expect us to be right back where we belong, fighting for race wins and podium results at Croft in four weeks."