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Gordon Shedden retakes British Touring Car Championship lead with Croft race two win

Gordon Shedden took his sixth victory of the 2012 season to restore himself to the head of the British Touring Car Championship standings by two points after winning the second race of the day at Croft

The Honda racer overhauled his team-mate Matt Neal on the third lap of the race to move into a lead he would never lose throughout the remaining 12 laps.

"The podium in race one was great, but I had less weight for this race and I needed to take advantage," said Shedden. "It's nip and tuck between Neal and me, and I have to bank the results when I can."

Neal had come under pressure initially from the private Eurotech Honda of Andrew Jordan as his factory car suffered low oil pressure and a misfire. The champion managed to hang on to second place as Jordan's tyres faded and he dropped down the order.

The fight for what would become third place was spectacular with the WSR BMW of Rob Collard fending off Rob Austin's Audi A4 and Collard's team-mate Tom Onslow-Cole. Austin produced a well thought out move to slice ahead of Collard powering out of the hairpin with two laps to go. Jordan fended off Collard and Onslow-Cole on the dash to the flag.

Jason Plato, who had been forced to start from 20th place after an electrical problem in race one, fought through the pack to seventh place in his MG.

He was ahead of Frank Wrathall (Dynojet Toyota), Andy Neate (MG) and Nick Foster (WSR BMW). Foster has been drawn on pole for the final race of the day.

Results - 15 laps:

Pos  Driver           Team/Car              Time/Gap
 1.  Gordon Shedden   Honda               21m55.113s
 2.  Matt Neal        Honda                 + 4.448s
 3.  Rob Austin       Austin Audi          + 10.863s
 4.  Andrew Jordan    Eurotech Honda       + 14.864s
 5.  Rob Collard      WSR BMW              + 14.961s
 6.  Tom Onslow-Cole  WSR BMW              + 15.280s
 7.  Jason Plato      MG                   + 22.814s
 8.  Frank Wrathall   Dynojet Toyota       + 32.312s
 9.  Andy Neate       MG                   + 33.109s
10.  Nick Foster      WSR BMW              + 39.335s
11.  Tony Gilham      Gilham Honda         + 46.955s
12.  Dave Newsham     ES Vauxhall          + 47.563s
13.  Jeff Smith       Eurotech Honda       + 47.697s
14.  Liam Griffin     Motorbase Ford       + 50.440s
15.  Ollie Jackson    AmD Volkswagen       + 54.021s
16.  Chris James      ES Vauxhall        + 1m13.171s
17.  Daniel Welch     Welch Proton       + 1m31.933s
18.  Will Bratt       Austin Audi            + 1 lap
19.  Lea Wood         Central Vauxhall       + 1 lap
20.  Adam Morgan      Speedworks Toyota     + 2 laps

Retirements:

     Aron Smith       Motorbase Ford          7 laps
     Paul O'Neill     Speedworks Toyota       6 laps
     Mat Jackson      Motorbase Ford           1 lap

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