Croft race 2: First win of year for Reid

The victory was especially sweet for Reid, as he lost a near certain victory at the last round of the championship at Rockingham. By contrast, he put in a flawless performance today, battling his way through the order in the early laps of the race.

Race one winner Matt Neal led away from pole, chased initially by James Thompson and Paul O'Neill, although the Honda driver was clearly struggling with the added success ballast. Reid climbed to fourth at the start, and began to work his way to the front with a slick pass on O'Neill heading into Tower on lap two.

Reid's next move was to pass Thompson on lap five, and he then immediately pressured the race leader, finding a way past on the very same lap. Thompson stuck to Reid's tail and slipped by Neal at the same corner, but despite his best efforts was unable to challenge Reid, and could only watch from afar as the MG ace cruised to an easy win.

Yvan Muller started from the back of the grid after his race one retirement, but soon began a charge up through the order. He was seventh by lap two, and up into third prior to the pit stops. However, a slow stop allowed Neal to slip back past the Frenchman, although Muller passed him on track to maintain his record of scoring a podium in every race he's finished.

Another great start gave Dan Eaves a healthy advantage in the Independents class, although his hopes of victory evaporated when he was forced to make an unscheduled second pit stop. This left Carl Breeze leading the class, although Rob Collard eventually passed him to steal class honours.

Tom Boardman looked set to dominate the Production class until he was forced to retire, leaving the Barwell Motorsports team to claim a one-two finish, with Luke Hines beating team-mate Alan Blencowe.

Anthony Reid MG 37m23.719s
James Thompson Vauxhall +3.413s
Yvan Muller Vauxhall +9.020s
Alan Morrison Honda +16.282s
Matt Neal Honda +20.340s
Paul O'Neill Vauxhall +22.811s