Photo: PSP Images

Josh Cook adds to Thruxton win tally

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Josh Cook added to his record of success at Thruxton with victory in the final race of the weekend.

Stephen Jelley got away well of the line to keep the lead from ahead of Colin Turkington, with a slow start for Michael Crees seeing him plummet down the order – with Cook quickly up into third.

Cook cleared Turkington on the run to Church to move into second spot and put pressure on Jelley into the chicane but was unable to make a move.

Behind, Tom Ingram made a strong start to move into fourth ahead of Rory Butcher, with Dan Rowbottom rounding out the top six as Crees slipped back to ninth. Elsewhere, Jake Hill dropped to 15th after a run off track exiting Seagrave.

Cook made his move at the end of the second lap as he slipped up the inside of Jelley to lead, with Butcher and Ash Sutton on a move behind; Butcher getting ahead of Ingram into fourth when the pair ran wide at the chicane and Sutton clearing both Dan Rowbottom an then Ingram to move fifth.

Jelley ceded position to Turkington on lap three to give Turkington the chancec to maximum his points score, but the Northern Irishman was unable to keep pace with Cook as he showed the pace of the Honda Civic to edge away at the front.

As in the earlier races, the main drama would come back in the pack, with Aiden Moffat forced off across the grass whilst dicing with Jack Butel and Adam Morgan over 16th spot, and the other Infiniti of Dexter Patterson in the middle of a huge dice with Tom Chilton, Ash Hand, Jade Edwards and Aron Taylor-Smith in the lower reaches of the top ten.

As Cook continued to extend his advantage, the focus towards the front was on the fight for fourth as Sutton tried to find a way ahead of Butcher for fourth, with Rowbottom also looking to get ahead of Ingram for sixth.

Sutton had a look at the outside into the chicane on lap nine but couldn’t get ahead of Butcher, but Rowbottom made the same move stick on Ingram a lap later to grab sixth from the Hyundai.

Cook however was able to remain out front to the finish to secure another win at Thruxton and cement his place as the most successful driver in the series at the fastest circuit on the calendar, with Turkington following him home in second and Jelley rounding out the podium.

Butcher took fourth from Sutton and Rowbottom, with Ingram taking the flag in seventh ahead of a recovering Crees. Gordon Shedden and Dan Cammish then rounded out the top ten.