Neal doubles up at Oulton Park

Matt Neal took his second win of the day with victory in a chaotic third Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship race at Oulton Park.

Neal’s Yuasa Honda racing Team Civic headed home the KX Momentum Racing MG6 of Jason Plato and Tom Onslow-Cole’s eBay Motors BMW which had led the early stages before being usurped by the two champions.

Neal’s team-mate Gordon Shedden, who’d won the day’s second race, took fourth to leave Oulton the new championship leader. Behind, Lea Wood in his BINZ Racing Vauxhall Vectra was able to celebrate the best result of his career to date in fifth.

Neal’s win ensured victories in all three races today for the factory Honda team and it has moved him to within five points of team-mate Shedden at the top of the table with Plato a further seven adrift.

“I never expected to win at all today so to win twice… where did that come from?!” beamed Neal. “I really had to stick my neck out under braking to pass Tom and then Jason was there. I thought he’d be the man to beat this weekend so to hold on was a great relief.”

Plato added: “I threw everything at it and there was one moment when maybe I should have gone for it when he got out of shape but after that he was always just out of reach.”

And said Onslow-Cole, who set the race’s fastest lap in the closing stages: “We’ve really moved the car on but when I saw Matt and Jason right behind me I thought things might get tough. But the two races earlier were a bit of a write-off so it’s good to end the day like this.

The race started with high drama as Adam Morgan’s Speedworks Toyota Avensis and Will Bratt’s Rob Austin Racing Audi A4 collided shortly after the start and span together on the downhill Avenue section. The following Andy Neate also spun his MG6 in avoidance while Jeff Smith’s Pirtek Racing was delayed in the incident. Neate retired in the pit lane soon after.

Miraculously, Morgan, even without a windscreen, kept going only to retire on the penultimate lap after a second collision with Bratt at the Island Bend hairpin. Bratt was able to make it across the line in 11th with damage to his car.

The race was also punctuated by two safety car periods. The first was triggered when Liam Griffin’s Redstone Racing Ford Focus had crashed heavily at Druids Bend and his team-mate Mat Jackson clashed with Daniel Welch entering Lodge Corner, the latter’s Welch Motorsport Proton Persona spinning into a dangerous position.

No sooner had the race been re-started than the safety car was required again, this time after Andrew Jordan’s Pirtek Honda came off second best in a tussle with Robert Collard’s eBay BMW and crunched into the barriers. Further around the same lap Ollie Jackson’s AmD VW Golf and Aron Smith’s Redstone Focus had collided and spun together at Island. Smith was out on the spot with damage to his car.

Dave Newsham was another retirement, his ES Racing.com Vauxhall Vectra stopping in the pit lane.

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