Neal extends title lead as Shedden secures maiden victory

Defending champ Matt Neal extended his points title lead in the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship with another solid weekend at Oulton Park whilst his team-mate Gordon Shedden gave Team Halfords extra reason to cheer by securing his first ever BTCC outright win.

Saturday's qualifying session was an unusual affair after challenging wet weather conditions presented a totally different line-up of drivers to the previous meetings at Brands Hatch and Mondello Park. This meant that Matt started in an uncharacteristic twelfth position on the grid for the first of the three races on the day. After an outstanding start, he drove a storming race to finish in fourth position after a race-long battle with third placed James Kaye.

But race one was to be Gordon Shedden's star turn as he more than showed his talent with a text book drive to an emotional first victory after moving up from fourth place on the grid. He secured third from Martyn Bell who spun off at the start of lap two and then out-braked James Kaye into Knickerbrook to take second. He then took the lead from SEAT's Jason Plato and held on for a race win despite the best efforts of Mondello winner Mike Jordan to overtake him.

"It's a mega feeling to win," said Gordon, who has now moved up to sixth place in the championship standings. "We always felt we had good pace in the car but things haven't gone my way so far this season. I took advantage of some nice breaks and it's awesome to win. It shows I'm capable of running at the front and it's a good feeling to go out there and beat teams like SEAT, Vauxhall and the MG's."

Matt started fourth in the second race and made another stunning getaway to jump the three cars in front to take the lead into the first corner, pulling out a comfortable lead to take his third win of the season. Gordon wasn't to be disappointed either and despite carrying full weight penalty ballast, he secured another podium finish taking a creditable third place.

In race three, the reverse grid rules meant Matt had to fight his way through the line-up after his race two win, finally managing to bring his Honda Integra Type-R in eighth place, picking up valuable points. "I think this weekend went better than expected," he said "and I'm over the moon with the weekend as a whole. Two out of three wins is fantastic!"

Team boss Steve Neal was thrilled to see Matt and Gordon with a win apiece and is now looking forward to Thruxton - a circuit where the team claimed three wins out of three last season. "For Gordon to break his duck is wonderful and he drove really well this weekend. Matt's win was the icing on the cake and it further strengthens his position at the top of the driver's table."