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Shedden takes first 2010 win at Croft

Gordon Shedden broke his season duck in a thriller of a British Touring Car Championship opener at Croft today

From the outside of the front row, the Scot surged his Dynamics-run Honda Civic into the lead at the first corner. Poleman Tom Chilton gave chase in his Arena Ford Focus, but at half-distance was passed by the WSR BMW of Rob Collard.

Once free of the Ford, Collard brought the gap down until he was right with Shedden on the final lap. A last-ditch bid for the lead ended in Collard being edged onto the grass as they exited the hairpin on the run to the finish. They crossed the line separated by just 0.03 seconds.

"Rob obviously did a good job in getting past the Focus," said Shedden. "The rear-wheel-drive BMW is softer on its tyres so he was able to attack, but in the end it doesn't matter whether you win by a lap or three hundredths."

Chilton's tyre-troubled Focus faded dramatically, while team-mate Tom Onslow-Cole also slid down the order, first when he slowed suddenly and lost four places, then as his Ford struggled for grip. Chilton lost nearly a lap when a left-front puncture forced him to make a pitstop.

The end result was that Jason Plato and Matt Neal muscled their way through to third and fourth, with Plato's Chevrolet team-mate Alex MacDowall among their victims. Paul O'Neill challenged the newer Honda of Neal for much of the race to take fifth, while James Nash just held off team-mate and BTCC debutant Daniel Lloyd for sixth in the battle of the Triple 8 Vauxhalls.

Among the retirements, David Pinkney may be finished for the day. He had engine failure on his TOCA-powered Vauxhall, and the team is weighing up whether to fit the spare.

Pos  Driver           Car            Time/Gap
 1.  Gordon Shedden   Honda        21m59.863s
 2.  Rob Collard      BMW            + 0.035s
 3.  Jason Plato      Chevrolet     + 18.355s
 4.  Matt Neal        Honda         + 20.012s
 5.  Paul O'Neill     Honda         + 20.265s
 6.  James Nash       Vauxhall      + 27.276s
 7.  Daniel Lloyd     Vauxhall      + 27.888s
 8.  Tom Onslow-Cole  Ford          + 30.323s
 9.  Mat Jackson      BMW           + 30.554s
10.  Andrew Jordan    Vauxhall      + 30.999s
11.  Steven Kane      BMW           + 33.895s
12.  Tom Boardman     SEAT          + 35.940s
13.  Alex MacDowall   Chevrolet     + 36.601s
14.  Martin Depper    BMW           + 37.062s
15.  John George      Honda         + 48.228s
16.  Martin Johnson   Vauxhall      + 50.673s
17.  Andy Neate       BMW           + 51.622s
18.  Tom Chilton      Ford        + 1m22.598s

Retirements:

     Arthur Forster   BMW         12 laps
     Lea Wood         Honda       11 laps
     Shaun Hollamby   Volkswagen  4 laps
     David Pinkney    Vauxhall    3 laps

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