Neal holds off Kane for final Oulton win

Matt Neal fended off the attentions of Steven Kane over the final laps of race three at Oulton Park to re-take the Championship lead with a win. Neal and Kane came through the pack form the mid-field to take the top two spots, after the demise of early leaders Alex MacDowall and Tom Boardman.

MacDowall led through an early safety car period after Martin Depper ended his race in the Cascades tyre wall on lap one, but on the first lap after the re-start the Chevrolet pulled off the road coming over Hill Top, with mechanical problems

The RML driver eventually contrived to leave his Cruze rather prominently in the Knickerbrook gravel, bringing the Porsche safety car back out again.

Both before and after the safety car period James Nash’s Vauxhall was proving to be mobile roadblock, holding up the pack behind him and making for some entertaining racing.

On the re-start Tom Chilton passed Nash along the Avenue before reeling in Boardman’s petrol SEAT. Such was Chilton’s speed advantage that he was able to drive by the Leon by halfway along Oulton Park’s main straight, but the AON man then contrived to drop the ball by spectacularly sliding the around Cascades, putting him back to fourth.

This left the field bunched up behind Nash once again, with Boardman just in front and on course for what looked like being his maiden BTCC win.

At Island Neal used a tap on the Vectra’s rear bumper to nudge him wide, allowing the Honda up into second, as positions two down to twelve could be covered by a handkerchief.

Once free of Nash, Neal reeled in Boardman, diving down the inside of the Special Tuning UK car at Lodge, as Boardman left an inviting gap that Neal needed no invitation to take. Nash’s efforts to follow Neal through failed, allowing Kane past into third, which became second when Boardman parked up at Island with broken steering.

During the final two circuits Kane tried his best to pressure Neal into a mistake, pulling alongside as they began the final lap, but despite some light contact under braking for the hairpin, Kane could not displace Neal.

Nash held on to third, with Chilton and Tom Onslow-Cole coming fourth and fifth. This meant Onslow-Cole scored the most points on the day, to receive the one-off trophy from Martin Johnson, in memory of his late father Cliff Johnson, who died last week.

Rounding out the top ten were Jason Plato, Mat Jackson, Rob Collard and Andy Neate, with Paul O’Neill finishing tenth.

O’Neill, who had missed races one and two, made the grid after his teammate John George donated parts from his damaged car to get the sunshine.co.uk leader out on track for the finale.

Andrew Jordan’s disappointing weekend continued with his Vectra ending the race angled up onto the barriers on the inside of the exit of Island, after contact which left the West Midlander irate and gesticulating at his rivals.

The win puts Neal back on top of the standings on 98 points, with Plato eight behind his rival. Kane lies third on 82 points, with Onslow-Cole the top Ford driver in fourth on 76 points, three ahead of Jackson.