Jason Plato has taken a shock win in a second race thriller at Oulton Park – after the leading Honda’s made contact on the final corner of the final lap.
Gordon Shedden had led the entire race, which was once again damp, but after a late-race safety car period second-placed Matt Neal was close behind.
A 1-2 finish looked certain for Honda until Neal attempted to pass Shedden into the final corner, instead pitching both drivers into the gravel. Neal failed to finish the race whilst Shedden limped accross the line to take sixth.
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Despite taking his fourth win of the season, Plato was clearly not happy at the end of the race and he refused to celebrate, instead branding it a “joke” that he is unable to keep pace with the Honda’s.
Joining Plato on the podium was Rob Collard and James Nash who had a lte race battle for position. Collard had been pressuring Nash in the closing laps and only completed the pass at the final corner.
Andrew Jordan made up for his first race disappointment to finish in a strong fourth position, despite having to withstand pressure from Alex MacDowall who took fifth. Shedden escaped the gravel at the final corner to take home valuable points in sixth as well as a bonus point for the fastest lap of the race.
Seventh was Paul O’Neill, with Nick Foster once again scoring points in eighth on a strong weekend for the WSR team.
Mat Jackson and Tom Chilton benefitted from Neal’s demise to take ninth and tenth places respectively, with Jackson benefitting the most as the ninth place he aquired gives him pole position for the final race of the day.
There were a number of drivers who failed to finish the race – aside from Neal there was a safety car period early in the race to retrieve the Vectra of Jeff Smith who lost control on the opening lap of the race. A second safety car period was called for when John George beeched his Chevrolet Cruze in the gravel, whilst Chris James failed to finish the race after spearing into the barriers at the first turn late in the race.
Tom Boardman’s Special Tuning Racing team were able to repair his damaged SEAT Leon after his first race accident, but he was only able to join the race a couple of laps after it had started and was not classified as a finisher as a result.