Neal boosts title bid with victory

Neal, who started fourth, passed both the slow-starting Alex MacDowall and Steven Kane on the run to the first corner, and then closed onto the tail of his Honda team-mate Gordon Shedden.

After running behind the race one winner during seven early laps behind the safety car, Neal out-braked Shedden at the hairpin and was able to keep the Scotsman behind him for the rest of the race.

While the Honda drivers scored a one-two finish - one that moved Neal back into second in the championship - there was a hard battle fought behind for the final podium spot.

Kane held third for most of the race, but was tapped up the rear by Plato's Chevrolet at the hairpin with three laps to go.

The Motorbase BMW driver lost momentum on the exit of the corner and was passed by Tom Chilton's Arena Ford at Duffus Dip. The pair made contact, spinning Kane off the track and into the innocent Tech-Speed Honda of Paul O'Neill.

While Kane was able to regain the circuit in fifth, O'Neill was relegated to 10th. Mat Jackson (Motorbase BMW), Tom Onslow-Cole (Arena Ford), Andrew Jordan (Eurotech Vauxhall) and MacDowall (Chevrolet) filled the positions in between.

The early safety car period was triggered when David Pinkney (Pinkney Vauxhall) spun at Leslie's on the first lap and cannoned into Rob Collard's WSR BMW, which was busy negotiating the next turn at McIntyres. Both were out on the spot.

Pos  Driver           Car           Time/Gap
 1.  Matt Neal        Honda       27m56.927s
 2.  Gordon Shedden   Honda         + 0.487s
 3.  Jason Plato      Chevrolet     + 3.161s
 4.  Tom Chilton      Ford          + 5.293s
 5.  Steven Kane      BMW           + 8.876s
 6.  Mat Jackson      BMW           + 9.293s
 7.  Tom Onslow-Cole  Ford          + 9.811s
 8.  Andrew Jordan    Vauxhall     + 10.242s
 9.  Alex MacDowall   Chevrolet    + 10.829s
10.  Paul O'Neill     Honda        + 17.484s
11.  James Nash       Vauxhall     + 18.526s
12.  Andy Neate       BMW          + 23.700s
13.  John George      Honda        + 25.344s
14.  Tom Boardman     SEAT         + 29.189s
15.  Jeff Smith       Vauxhall     + 31.333s
16.  Shaun Hollamby   Volkswagen   + 42.304s

Retirements:

     David Pinkney    Vauxhall    0 laps
     Rob Collard      BMW         0 laps