Neal ends winless streak in style

The 2005 and 2006 champion only ran in the lower reaches of the top 10 early on, but following a mid-race safety car period he looked imperious and dived down the inside of Colin Turkington at Tarzan on lap 16 to take a lead he would not lose.

Tom Chilton, who had battled with Turkington for the lead earlier in the race, finished second in his Team Halfords Honda while Adam Jones completed the podium in his Team Air-Cool SEAT.

Chilton's chances of victory ended three laps from the end when he tried to take the lead from Turkington at Deene on lap 14. He tapped the BMW twice and briefly made it ahead, before understeering off at the next corner and falling behind Neal and Mat Jackson.

Jackson then attacked Turkington for the lead, only to slide into the gravel and out of the race after a slight brush with the RAC BMW at Tarzan.

Gordon Shedden and Jones both passed Turkington in the closing stages, as did Fabrizio Giovanardi, who ended the race fifth and increased his championship lead over Jackson to seven points.

Sixth place went to Jason Plato, who passed long-time leader Turkington right on the finish line to cap a good recovery drive after he was earlier given a 30-second stop/go penalty for his mechanics changing his tyres on the grid after the three-minute board had been hung out.

Plato's cause was helped by a safety car period caused by his team-mate Darren Turner getting bogged down in the gravel at the Pif Paf after earlier going off at the Brook chicane.

He was not the only crasher, though as Tom Onslow-Cole, Michael Doyle and John George also ended their races in various parts of the scenery.

The top 10 was completed by Rob Collard, Mike Jordan and Erkut Kizilirmak, who picked up the first point of the season for Arkas Racing.

Pos  Driver               Car       Time
 1.  Matt Neal            Vauxhall  31:06.261
 2.  Tom Chilton          Honda      +  4.914
 3.  Adam Jones           SEAT       +  5.785
 4.  Gordon Shedden       Honda      +  7.694
 5.  Fabrizio Giovanardi  Vauxhall   +  8.147
 6.  Jason Plato          SEAT       +  9.706
 7.  Colin Turkington     BMW        +  9.718
 8.  Rob Collard          BMW        + 11.102
 9.  Mike Jordan          Honda      + 17.999
10.  Erkut Kizilirmak     Vauxhall   + 19.094
11.  Stephen Jelley       BMW        + 21.404
12.  Martyn Bell          Vauxhall   + 58.593
13.  Steven Kane          BMW        +  1 lap
14.  Harry Vaulkhard      Chevrolet  +  1 lap
15.  Jason Hughes         Honda      +  1 lap

Retirements:

     Driver               Car       Laps
     Mat Jackson          BMW       13
     Michael Doyle        Honda     11
     Stuart Oliver        Lexus     8
     Darren Turner        SEAT      6
     John George          Honda     6
     Andrew Jordan        Honda     4
     Tom Onslow-Cole      Vauxhall  1
     Alan Taylor          Honda     0