The WSR run MG ZS EX261 touring car of Anthony Reid took their first win of 2003 with Anthony putting to rights his near win at Rockingham and taking the chequered flag at Croft under glorious sunshine in front of over 19'000 spectators.

Anthony, who started from fifth on the grid, was clearly a man with a mission in the second race of the day at the North Yorkshire circuit. At the start he made up on place as MG team-mate Colin Turkington suffered a poor start away from the line, and this was merely the start of Anthony Reid's moves through the field. Next victim was VX Racing's Paul O'Neill, the very man who punted Anthony off the track in the first race of the day. O'Neill didn't provide such a problem in the second race however, and Anthony was through and from then on unhindered by the Astra.

Next victim on Anthony's hit-list was reigning BTCC champion, James Thompson. Thompson put up a sterling defence of his position, but someone with Anthony's experience and race craft is a pretty wily competitor and the team really seem to have come to terms with the car and this year's new control tyre, so the reigning champ was soon despatched and race one winner, Matt Neal, was all that stood between Anthony and the lead of the race, despite it only being the start of lap four.

By the end of that lap, however, Neal was not a problem. With seeming ease Anthony took the man who had so easily won the first race of the day at Croft and set about building himself a lead.

Fans of MG will be aware of this, we've been here before. Anthony Reid has led races before, but missed out on the win, and it was early days in the twenty-five lap race. Crucially a pit-stop had to be made and there were hard chargers come through the field, not least championship leader Yvan Muller, bereft of success ballast after being punted off by team-mate Paul O'Neill in the first race of the day. It was Muller who had taken the first position from Anthony at Rockingham, and the Frenchman was truly on a charge.

Time for pit-stops and Anthony came in at the start of lap 12. In the BTCC series a pit-stop is compulsory and given the 25 lap duration of the races the pit-stop really can have a dramatic effect on the race result, but fortunately the West Surrey Racing (WSR) crew are vastly experienced and were able to produce what Anthony described as “the best pit-stop ever” ( 4.4 secs) and he exited back into the race with what turned out to be a lead extended by a further couple of seconds. Result from the WSR team.

Back on track and once all the pit-stops were over Anthony soon emerged atop the field and with a comfortable margin. This was exactly the position that Anthony had been in at Rockingham, the concern was now that the Safety Car might have to come out and destroy Anthony's lead. This is what had happened at Rockingham, and the Safety Car had been out twice in the first race of the day. The concerns of MG supporters and Anthony proved unfounded however, and Anthony and MG went on to take a popular first race win of 2003.

"It's great to be on the top step of the podium again,” said Anthony immediately after the race, “you've got to be winning in this game. I've won races pretty much every year I have been in Touring Cars, and I'm delighted to be back winning again at what is a crucial stage of the season. I'm sure now that we've got this victory, we can get more.

“I really enjoyed the moves I was able to put on other cars,” he explained. “I knew the MG ZS was good when the tyres were fresh, and that is the time when you have to really capitalise and use the extra performance. I wanted to get in the lead early so that I could control the race, and that worked beautifully.

“I then pushed hard and opened the gap to around three seconds before my pit stop, a nd the team gave me a lightening pit stop. They were so quick it almost caught me by surprise, it must have been one of the fastest all season, but that gave me an extra two seconds and put me really in control.

Elsewhere it was mixed fortunes for the other two MG drivers. Colin Turkington got a poor start and found himself way down the field at the start, but was able to put on a storming race to ultimately seventh place and more points to his tally, whilst Warren Hughes had another race he'd rather forget, after an onslaught from other cars on the first lap he battled on with his damaged chassis to ultimately come home tenth, meaning another point for his championship score.

The day was ultimately a happy one for MG and Anthony Reid. “I'm delighted," he said. "We did what we should have done at Rockingham, and it has taken us a little while to get on terms with the Dunlop tyre, but we can expect more wins now as the season progresses."