Croft Sprint: Thompson takes vital win

With three fires, plus oil, tyres, debris and gravel all over the place, there was plenty to keep the big crowd's attention. It had all started relatively sanely with the two works Vauxhalls leading two works Hondas and two works MGs into the opening corners. Andy Priaulx gave the first clue of what was to come when he fired the Civic Type-R off on the exit to the chicane and dropped to the back of the BTC Touring field. Further back Aaron Slight was off in the Barwell Astra after a dispute with David Leslie's Proton - "I gave him room in the first corner and he paid me back by turning me round," muttered Slight. "Did he ****? He tried to run me off the road," countered Leslie.

At the front, Thompson and Muller looked to be comfortably in control, while Anthony Reid had moved ahead of Alan Morrison to put the MG third ahead of the Honda, and a hectic pack behind, with Matt Neal the man looking to be on the move as he demoted Warren Hughes' MG and moved into fifth place.

Fire number one came when Paul O'Neill clouted a kerb, ripped the sump off and ignited oil. That brought out the safety car. On the restart, the works Vauxhalls edged clear again, Neal braved it out to move ahead of Morrison between Tower and the Jim Clark Esses to challenge Reid for third. A drama at Clervaux awaited Neal though. "I just touched the inside kerb, there was a big bang and I slid wide. I thought the upright had gone and as I was wiggling it about trying to work out what was going on they all came past."

Reid was the next to fall, a front left puncture putting him off at Clervaux and Hughes almost went in his wake, sliding wide at the same time and hitting a tyre stack. He carried on though in third place. And then second. Muller had picked up a puncture too and he was out. Hughes didn't have long to last out in second, but the damage done in his encounter with the tyres led to dreadful understeer and locking brakes.

Leslie had been driving a canny race, having been down a set-up bind alley in qualifying the Impian was back on known basic settings and going great guns. "We were quick enough to race with all of them, so that was great," said the veteran after taking second place. Turkington had been driving a deliberately conservative race, having moved to the head of the Independents' class. "I didn't want to take risks and was just following David really. Then everyone fell off or went wide. I'm over the moon."

Priaulx had battled back up to fourth place, ahead of the fading Hughes and Morrison in the second Honda which had no clutch and a bent trackrod after its battle with Neal's Astra.

Neal was one of many who didn't finish. He crashed out with Tim Harvey and Gareth Howell after his move to pass Harvey went wrong. Harvey's Peugeot had fire number two when it ignited the grass. Fire three was Tom Chilton's sump-ripping replay of the O'Neill incident.

In BTC production, Gavin Pyper dominated before the safety car came out, but a header tank failure brought overheating and retirement for the Alfa. James Kaye then looked to be in charge in the Honda Civic, but Norman Simon stayed close in the BMW and grabbed his chance and the win, when Kaye encountered a familiar problem - gearbox trouble. "I hate that gearbox," grumbled the class points leader, who was still second.


James Thompson (Vauxhall Astra Coupe) 30m22.948s 79.80mph
David Leslie (Proton Impian) 30m28.948s 79.56mph
Colin Turkington (MG ZS) 30m29.319s 79.53mph
Andy Priaulx (Honda Civic Type-R) 30m30.694s 79.47mph
Warren Hughes (MG ZS) 30m31.304s 79.44mph
Alan Morrision (Honda Civic Type-R) 30m32.163s 79.40mph
Aaron Slight (Vauxhall Astra Coupe) 30m37.985s 79.15mph
Carl Breeze (Peugeot 406 Coupe) 30m49.891s 78.64mph
Dan Eaves (Peugeot 406 Coupe) 30m55.966s 78.38mph
Norman Simon (BMW 320i) 31m08.315s 77.87mph


Norman Simon (BMW 320i) 31m08.315s 77.87mph
James Kaye (Honda Civic Type-R) 31m08.974s 77.84mph
Alan Blencowe (Alfa Romeo 156) 31m21.906s 77.30mph