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Thruxton BTCC: Matt Neal cruises to another win in race two

Matt Neal made it a double with victory in the second British Touring Car race at Thruxton

The works Honda driver led from pole and coped with an early challenge from Jason Plato's works MG and a safety car restart (due to Dan Welch crashing his Proton) to win.

Plato struggled more and more as the race went on, making him vulnerable to attack.

First, the impressive Tom Onslow-Cole made it by on the inside of Village in his Team Hard VW, and then Plato came under attack from Andrew Jordan's Eurotech Honda and Gordon Shedden's works Civic.

Both Hondas were on a charge after race one delays. Jordan, from 11th, caught the MG first, but could not find a way by, allowing Shedden (up from row 13) to close.

Jordan made it by into Allard with four laps to go and was immediately followed by Shedden. The duo then closed on Onslow-Cole.

The three were tied together going onto the final lap and when Jordan put a wheel on the grass entering Church, the ensuing slide allowed Shedden to get a run past him approaching the chicane to snatch third.

Despite a great exit from the last corner the reigning champion could not quite overhaul Onslow-Cole, who finished 1.5 seconds behind a cruising Neal.

Plato took fifth, while Eurotech's Jeff Smith made it four Hondas in the top six.

Sam Tordoff had a lonely race to seventh. Adam Morgan recovered brilliantly from an early off to finish eighth in his Cicely Racing Toyota Avensis.

Lea Wood's Vauxhall Vectra led the S2000 class throughout, helped by pursuers Liam Griffin and James Kaye being forced to pull off.

Results - 19 laps:

Pos  Driver            Team/Car             Time/Gap
 1.  Matt Neal         Honda              27m46.053s
 2.  Tom Onslow-Cole   Hard VW              + 1.468s
 3.  Gordon Shedden    Honda                + 1.676s
 4.  Andrew Jordan     Eurotech Honda       + 1.891s
 5.  Jason Plato       MG                   + 3.560s
 6.  Jeff Smith        Eurotech Honda       + 4.949s
 7.  Sam Tordoff       MG                  + 13.072s
 8.  Adam Morgan       Ciceley Toyota      + 14.410s
 9.  Jack Goff         Hard Vauxhall       + 20.433s
10.  Aron Smith        Motorbase Ford      + 22.457s
11.  Colin Turkington  WSR BMW             + 22.950s
12.  Dave Newsham      Speedworks Toyota   + 23.190s
13.  Rob Collard       WSR BMW             + 23.489s
14.  James Cole        Hard Vauxhall       + 26.856s
15.  Mat Jackson       Motorbase Ford      + 28.789s
16.  Nick Foster       WSR BMW             + 29.063s
17.  Ollie Jackson     Speedworks Toyota   + 34.230s
18.  Rob Austin        Austin Audi         + 36.554s
19.  Frank Wrathall    Dynojet Toyota      + 39.421s
20.  Lea Wood          Wood Vauxhall       + 40.145s*
21.  David Nye         Welch Ford          + 44.379s*
22.  Will Bratt        Austin Audi         + 51.062s

Retirements:

     Joe Girling       Finesse Chevrolet     18 laps*
     James Kaye        AmD VW                15 laps*
     Liam Griffin      Motorbase Ford        10 laps*
     Warren Scott      BMR SEAT               5 laps*
     Daniel Welch      Welch Proton           3 laps

* S2000

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