Neal makes it two wins out of three
Matt Neal made it two wins from three races as he claimed victory in the final British Touring Car Championship encounter of the day at Rockingham
Polesitter Neal bogged down at the start and dropped to third initially behind Tom Onslow-Cole's Arena Ford and Paul O'Neill's Tech-Speed Honda.
After re-passing O'Neill at the Deene hairpin, he then caught Onslow-Cole napping at Tarzan to re-take the lead before even a lap had been completed. Neal was unchallenged after that and sped off to victory by five seconds.
Behind him, O'Neill relieved Onslow-Cole of second place with five laps to go and went on to claim the best BTCC finish in Tech-Speed's history. Not only did the result lift him to the lead of the independents' championship, he also now lies fourth in the overall standings.
Onslow-Cole looked set to complete the podium, but he ran wide at Deene on the final lap and dropped to seventh as a result. Steven Kane thus inherited the final podium place in his Motorbase BMW.
Andrew Jordan (Eurotech Vauxhall) claimed his best result of the year in fourth while Jason Plato crossed the line right behind him - the Chevrolet driver leaving Rockingham with an 11-point lead in the championship.
Rob Collard was next up in his WSR BMW, but only after he and Gordon Shedden's Honda collided with a few laps left - the Civic clouting the tyres exiting Deene.
Onslow-Cole, James Nash (Triple 8 Vauxhall), Andy Neate (WSR) and Tom Boardman (Special Tuning UK SEAT) completed the points scorers.
Pos Driver Car Time/Gap
1. Matt Neal Honda 23m09.696s
2. Paul O'Neill Honda + 5.489s
3. Steven Kane BMW + 7.817s
4. Andrew Jordan Vauxhall + 10.269s
5. Jason Plato Chevrolet + 10.795s
6. Rob Collard BMW + 11.147s
7. Tom Onslow-Cole Ford + 12.703s
8. James Nash Vauxhall + 13.617s
9. Andy Neate BMW + 14.008s
10. Tom Boardman SEAT + 16.180s
11. Martin Johnson Vauxhall + 23.512s
12. Matt Hamilton Honda + 24.983s
13. Arthur Forster BMW + 38.328s
14. Shaun Hollamby Volkswagen + 43.292s
15. John George Honda + 53.789s
Retirements:
Gordon Shedden Honda 12 laps
Mat Jackson BMW 0 laps
Tom Chilton Ford 0 laps
David Pinkney Vauxhall 0 laps
Alex MacDowall Chevrolet 0 laps
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