Two from two for Jason Plato at Snetterton

Triple Eight’s Jason Plato made it two from two at Snetterton, after edging a cat-and-mouse encounter with title rival Colin Turkington in another dramatic race.

In a reverse of this morning’s encounter, West Surrey Racing’s Turkington outdragged the MG6 off the line, but Plato made the best of his superior car speed to pass the BMW 125i into Montreal on lap nine.

Turkington came on strong in the final stages, but Plato held on and crept away on the final two tours to win by 1.608s.

Honda Racing Team’s Gordon Shedden continued his forward progress with another podium, ahead of team-mate Matt Neal, while Ciceley Racing’s Adam Morgan had another strong run to fifth.

The top 10 in another safety car-affected race was completed by Mat Jackson, Fabrizio Giovanardi, Aron Smith, a charging Sam Tordoff and Marc Hynes.

Tordoff’s drive saw him pass 22 cars in his 50th race, but the luck with the reverse grid draw went with Smith, who will head the grid in race three.

In a race littered with accidents, it was a hugely disappointing showing for Eurotech Racing’s Andrew Jordan. The reigning champion carved through the field on his soft tyres in the early laps, but came off worst when he, Rob Collard and Jack Goff went three abreast into Nelson on lap five, and spun to the infield.

He plummeted down the field and could only fight back to 15th, one place higher than he started.

But the drama started much earlier than that, when Morgan tapped Team BMR’s Alain Menu on the left rear going into Riches on lap one, causing the Swiss to try in vain to catch a huge tank-slapper, and have a heavy head-on impact with the barrier on the inside.

Jordan’s incident followed three laps behind the safety car, before Jack Clarke and Warren Scott clashed at Montreal on lap six, putting both out of the race.

Shedden passed Morgan in a fine move around the outside into Nelson, before Robb Holland slowed with a huge chunk of rear bumper missing.

Plato made the decisive move on the same lap that Shedden put an identical pass on team-mate Neal, to move up into third.

And the incident wasn’t over there, as Glynn Geddie hit the same barrier as Menu following a tap from Dave Newsham, while Rob Collard and Lea Wood both had late spins.