Champion wins in 300th BTCC race

Team Halfords driver, Matt Neal, celebrated his 300th race in the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship in supreme style with another victory, as the series made its annual trip to the North East of England at Croft.

Matt backed up his victory with a further podium finish to extend his lead in the championship standings to 37 points over Team RAC driver Colin Turkington. Gordon Shedden once again displayed his talents by posting the fastest lap of the Independent runners in all three races and the quickest lap overall on two occasions.

From the start of the weekend, the Honda Integra quickly emerged as one of the cars to have, with both Matt and Flash on the pace during the Saturday morning practice sessions, with Matt ending the second 40 minute session on top of the times and Gordon slotting in behind.

Even with maximum championship success ballast on board, Matt was right in the thick of things during qualifying as temperatures soared. The Integra once again carried the extra weight well, as the champion secured a place on the second row of the grid, just 0.060secs away from pole position. Gordon lined up directly behind his team-mate in fifth after another solid display from the Scot.

Race one saw Matt display his driving talents after contact with title rival Jason Plato at the end of lap one saw the Honda drop down to sixth place. However, the champion launched a fine recovery to claim a place on the podium after a race long battle with the MG's of Turkington and Rob Collard.

Flash should have been alongside his team-mate on the podium had it not been for bad luck in the early stages when contact from a rival dislodged the rear bumper. Although the part appeared to still be fixed securely, Gordon was ordered to pit so the bumper could be removed before he stormed back up to twelfth place.

The second race of the afternoon was the one that both Matt and rival Plato wanted to win as the pair celebrated their 300th and 200th BTCC races respectively. At the start, Matt quickly got past the second SEAT of James Thompson on the run to the first corner before the two title contenders did battle for victory in the landmark race.

Matt bided his time behind the SEAT but when the opportunity arose to make a pass at the hairpin with just two laps to go, the Team Halfords man slipped up the inside to take the lead and secure the win.

"What a special win," he said afterwards. "I'm not a big one for figures and stuff like that, but half-way through the race I did think to myself 'I want to win this one'. I'd looked at Jason a few times and when he braked early and there was a chance with two laps to go, I didn't need to be asked twice. It's brilliant."

Gordon was once again busy living up to his nickname as he battled through the pack to claim fourth place. It was a result that put him third on the grid for the final race of the day once the draw for the reverse grid had taken place with Matt starting from sixth.

Once again the race would see Neal and Plato fighting on track with the pair dicing for third place in the closing stages. Swarming all over the back of the SEAT, Matt dived down the inside into the hairpin on the final lap, before out-dragging Plato over the line to take the place by just 0.008secs.

However, stewards would later reverse the positions after deciding that Matt had been a little over-eager in cutting the final corner to make the move, but the champion was still pleased with the weekends work.

"It's mission accomplished this weekend and another meeting down in the championship race," said Matt. "I've pulled out a few points on Colin in the standings so it's been a good result. Getting past Thompson at the start of the second race was crucial for me as it meant SEAT couldn't play the team game. If I hadn't managed to make that one move then it could have changed the face of the whole weekend.

"Now I can head to Donington, a place that holds so many memories for me, with my head down and see what we can produce."

Once again, luck wasn't on Gordon's side as he fought his way up to second place and looked set for a comfortable podium before a puncture just two laps from the end dropped him to the rear of the field, the only consolation being that Flash was once again the fastest man on track.

"It's a bit disappointing to have had such a great car and not had the results to show for it," said the Team Halfords driver. "I think I'd have had an easy second place in race one if I hadn't been called in and then the second race was absolutely cracking, coming up from twelfth on the grid to finish fourth.

"I would have got second in the final race if it hadn't been for the puncture but I've showed this weekend that I definitely have the pace and hopefully we can get the results that we deserve at Donington."