Two up for Colin Turkington in chaotic second Snetterton race
Team BMR’s Colin Turkington led from lights to flag again to take a second win of the day at Snetterton, cruising serenely home in a chaotic encounter littered with crashes and incidents.
Turkington was never troubled after leading away from pole position, with Ciceley Racing’s Adam Morgan performing an outstanding rearguard action to keep Andy Priaulx, Jason Plato and Sam Tordoff at bay throughout.
But while the front runners drove exemplary races, dubious driving standards prevailed throughout the midfield, with the Honda Racing Team duo of Gordon Shedden and Matt Neal the highest profile retirements after contact between the pair.
Triple Eight Racing’s Jack Goff had a lonely race in sixth, with team-mate Andrew Jordan following him home in seventh. Goff also benefited from the reverse grid draw, and will start the final race on pole.
Speedworks Motorsport’s Tom Ingram dropped out of eighth with a puncture on the last lap, allowing the returning Mat Jackson to take the position on his return for Motorbase Performance, with Rob Austin and Mike Bushell completing the top 10.
Bushell was one of a string of drivers to achieve career-best finishes, also including James Cole in 11th, debutant Barry Horne in 13th, Robb Holland in 14th and Derek Palmer Jr taking his first championship point in 15th.
The final result only told half the story. At the start, Tordoff made a bad start to fall to fourth, while team-mate Rob Collard’s miserable day continued with another broken left-rear at turn one.
Shedden exited the race with heavy damage after contact with Neal at Agostini, with Neal also starting to fall back with chunks of front-right bodywork hanging off
Team BMR’s Aron Smith and Power Maxed Racing’s Dave Newsham then clashed at Hamilton and a crabbing Smith retired with broken suspension, then his namesake Jeff clashed with his team-mate Martin Depper, who in turn hit Warren Scott in the concertina effect.
The race settled down after the initial chaos, until the opportunistic Plato passed Tordoff on lap seven while the BMW was tucked up behind team-mate Priaulx. Neal retired on the same lap as his car continued to shed bodywork, before Ingram’s rotten luck completed the drama on the last tour.
Leader Turkington was oblivious to the chaos out front, and has now closed the gap to team-mate and series leader Jason Plato to just eight points.
