EGG SPORT THOMPSON STEAMS ONTO PODIUM

Sparks flying during elemental night in Norfolk - with hot tempers and wet conditions

Snetterton: Egg Sport's James Thompson couldn't disguise his relief when he took to the podium after beating Vauxhall Motorsport's Jason Plato in the Feature Race of the eighth meeting of the 2001 British Touring Cars Championship. However, Egg Sport's journey from grid to podium was not without event. Seldom has a night in Norfolk seen so much passion. With palpable tension between drivers, the atmosphere was that of a pressure cooker about to explode.

The rain did not cool the heat of competition between Plato and Egg Sport's Thompson. Battle commenced as the 17-lap Sprint Race got underway with darkness falling over Thetford Forest. Thompson who was hot on the tail of leader during the first half of the race was fuming as, boxed in by production cars, Plato sailed by, with a wink and a wave, leaving Thompson to sixth position.

The gauntlet was thrown down. Anyone spotting Thompson between races couldn't fail to notice his steely gaze and fiery resolve to beat his nemesis in the Feature. Emotions were clearly running high.

Egg Sport favourite, Phil Bennett, was taken off the battlefield by transmission problems during the Sprint.

The track was still damp when Thompson pulled off the grid in his Vauxhall Astra Coupe at the start of the Feature Race. Bennett aggressively steamed into the third position just behind the Vauxhall Motorsport cars until, in Bennett's own words, "Plato rammed into the rear of my car and pushed it sideways down the track for 100 metres, until I was finally dislodged from the front of his car". After an extended pit stop, he completed the race with one light and regained enough ground to come in sixth which he describes as "the best I could do given the circumstances" before registering his feeling for Mr Plato.

Thompson, meanwhile, was busy taking advantage of some of the scuffling that affected Plato and Muller and moved into first position 10 laps before the race was scheduled to finish. However, the race saw so much shunting and bumping that the track became an oily skid-pan and the race was ended after 27 laps with Thompson still in the lead. Emerging from his car victorious, Thompson noted that his success was down to sheer courage in the face of the enemy. "It all depended on how brave you wanted to be. Egg Sport came in earlier than anyone else and we were the first team to change onto slicks. It was a gamble but won us the race. I had a storming middle part of the race and managed to overtake everyone."

The driving gloves are clearly off for next week's meeting at Croft - oooh we're scared!