Matt Neal: “A horrible mistake”

Matt Neal described the incident between himself and team-mate Gordon Shedden as “a horrible mistake”.
“I am annoyed with myself for letting it happen. I am sorry for Flash that I crashed into him,” said Neal.

The Honda team was heading for a dominant 1-2 in the second race at Oulton Park, with Shedden leading and Neal in second. Neal went for the inside at the final corner of the final lap, locking wheels resulting in contact and them both going off into the gravel.
“I was looking down the inside and it was wetter on the track than I thought. I locked up the brakes and went into him. I am sorry for him and for the team because we would have had a one-two finish,” said Neal.

Shedden managed to crawl his way back up on track to finish sixth.
“After winning race one we were determined to get the most out of race two that we could. It was unfortunate that we made contact but these things happen in racing,” said Shedden.

Shedden went on to finish second in the third and final race of the day as Neal fought his way from 19th on the grid to fourth, proving the dominant pace of the Hondas.
“Every cloud has a silver lining. It was hard to find a positive after race two but when the car was free of success ballast it was really hooked up in race three. We have been working so hard on the chassis and the engine and everything trying to make it faster and it showed it’s been worth it today. I hold my hands up and even though I did my best to drop the ball in race two we are still in the in the fight, which is great as we are getting to the halfway stage of the season,” said Neal.

If you somehow missed the incident, look no further:

Neal heads the standings on 103 points, two points ahead of Shedden, but with Mat Jackson, James Nash and Jason Plato all within 12 points of the championship lead.