Sprint race: Gamble pays for Neal

Neal was a happy man by the end after challenging for the lead early on, dropping back to fifth and then charging back up the field to win. "In all my years racing up here, I've never even finished on the podium, so this is great," he said. He was one of the few to gamble on setting his car up for wet conditions when the rain was only a threat pre-race. The drizzle started as the cars were heading to the grid, thickened thereafter and Neal's ploy paid off.

He had to work hard though. From third on the grid, he sliced past slow-starter James Thompson off the line and was a comfortable second behind pole starter Andy Priaulx until the safety car came out after Aaron Slight and Phil Bennett clashed at the Hairpin. "My cock-up," admitted Slight, who was caught out by the very slippery braking area.

At the re-start, Alan Morrison in third place for Honda, managed to jump Neal and before he could recover, he'd been passed by Reid and Thompson too. When the race settled down though, it was clear that Neal was the quickest man on the track. One after the other he out-braked his rivals into the hairpin. On lap 16 he took the lead and immediately pulled away to head for a win, only thrown into any doubt when the wipers packed up with six laps to go - just when the rain was getting heavier.

Poleman Priaulx had led the early laps, but he lost out in the typical Knockhill argy-bargy. "I was hit really hard by Reid and that was my race over, effectively," explained the disappointed Honda star. His boss was more outspoken, Arena chief Mike Earle reckoned Reid had also hit his other car driven by Alan Morrison. "It's either Alzheimer's and he's forgetting to brake, or the old bins have gone," said Earle. Reid described his move on Priaulx as simply: "hard, but fair." Ultimately the Honda challenge, which had looked so strong after qualifying, brought just fifth for Morrison and seventh for Priaulx.

Reid was second and looked for a while as though he might be able to challenge Neal. "He was just too quick," admitted Reid, who had a full dry set-up which gave him too much understeer. He was still pleased with the result, and reckoned he'd pulled some good moves to turn sixth on the grid into second.

Thompson was playing the percentages in his heavily-ballasted Astra. "Just keeping it neat and tidy," he said. "In the end we had the speed for third, which isn't bad with all that weight." Fourth-placed Muller was in a similar boat in his even heavier Astra, while Morrison salvaged fifth and Paul O'Neill drove a good race to sixth.

Gavin Pyper won in BTC Production with the GA Motorsport/Team Dynamics Alfa Romeo 156. He led from the start and pushed hard to build a gap over Norman Simon's Edenbridge BMW. As the track began to get slightly drier, Simon closed in, but just when it looked as though he could mount a big challenge, the rain came down harder. Pyper's hard-pressed tyres started to work again and Simon's screen started to mist-up - the wipers had already stopped working - and he dropped away. Spencer Marsh was best of the rest some way behind, while points-leader James Kaye took fourth place.

Matt Neal (Vauxhall Astra Coupe) 31m43.220s 71.23mph
Anthony Reid (MG ZS) 31m49.179s 71.01mph
James Thompson (Vauxhall Astra Coupe) 31m51.252s 70.93mph
Yvan Muller (Vauxhall Astra Coupe) 31m53.308s 70.85mph
Alan Morrison (Honda Civic Type-R) 31m54.283s 70.82mph
Paul O' Neill (Vauxhall Astra Coupe) 31m54.601s 70.81mph
Andy Priaulx (Honda Civic Type-R) 31m54.715s 70.80mph
Colin Turkington (MG ZS) 32m06.856s 70.36mph
David Leslie (Proton Impian) 32m11.809s 70.18mph
Tom Chilton (Vauxhall Astra Coupe) 32m12.186s 70.16mph

Gavin Pyper (Alfa Romeo 156) 28 laps 68.69mph
Norman Simon (BMW 320i) 28 laps 68.47mph
3 Spencer Marsh (Honda Accord) 28 laps 67.83mph