Neal wins again in second race
Matt Neal has scored his second victory of the British Touring Car meeting at Croft this afternoon
The Honda Racing driver led race two from the start, chased by the WSR BMW of Rob Collard.
After an early safety car period to clear Tom Boardman's crashed SEAT, Neal pulled away from Collard, at one stage leading by over two seconds. A late charge from Collard allowed the BMW to close, but Neal was comfortable as he extended his championship lead.
The top two were well clear of the rest. Neal's team-mate, Gordon Shedden, made it past Mat Jackson's Motorbase Ford Focus to run third, but seemed to struggle as the race progressed.
Andrew Jordan, who thrust his Eurotech Racing Vauxhall Vectra past Jackson at Tower with four laps to go, closed in on the Honda. When Shedden ran wide at Hawthorn, Jordan slotted by to complete the podium.
Shedden held on to fourth, but had a whole gaggle of cars behind him at the flag, led by Jackson.
Despite an early pitstop, Nick Foster was part of that group in his WSR BMW. He was the fastest man on the track in the closing stages and secured seventh by diving past Dave Newsham's Special Tuning SEAT into the hairpin on the final lap to finish right behind Tom Chilton's Arena Ford Focus.
Reigning champion Jason Plato was chasing Jackson for fourth in the first half of the race, but was forced to retire with a cv joint failure.
Results - 18 laps:
Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap
1. Matt Neal Honda 28m57.344s
2. Rob Collard WSR BMW + 0.991s
3. Andrew Jordan Eurotech Vauxhall + 17.643s
4. Gordon Shedden Honda + 19.712s
5. Mat Jackson Motorbase Ford + 20.367s
6. Tom Chilton Arena Ford + 20.597s
7. Nick Foster WSR BMW + 20.876s
8. Dave Newsham Special Tuning SEAT + 21.648s
9. Andy Neate Arena Ford + 27.238s
10. Tom Onslow-Cole Arena Ford + 32.428s
11. James Nash Triple 8 Vauxhall + 32.825s
12. Tony Gilham Triple 8 Vauxhall + 39.956s
13. Shaun Hollamby AmD Volkswagen + 45.256s
14. John George Tech-Speed Chevrolet + 51.231s
15. Lea Wood Central Honda + 1m07.463s
Retirements:
Alex MacDowall Chevrolet 15 laps
Jeff Smith Eurotech Vauxhall 14 laps
Chris James ES Chevrolet 14 laps
Rob Austin Austin Audi 13 laps
Jason Plato Chevrolet 11 laps
Paul O'Neill Tech-Speed Chevrolet 10 laps
Frank Wrathall Dynojet Toyota 9 laps
Tom Boardman Special Tuning SEAT 3 laps
Liam Griffin Motorbase Ford 2 laps
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