Honda’s Gordon Shedden took victory in the final British Touring Car race of the day at Snetterton, after another race packed full of action and controversy.
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Shedden was the second driver of the day to win after making a forceful move on Colin Turkington, and came home two seconds clear of Airwaves’ Mat Jackson, who was joined on the podium by his teammate Árón Smith.
Another rocket start from Colin Turkington saw him flash past polesitter Dave Newsham and Shedden, who in turn passed the Speedworks driver before the first bend. It was to be a disastrous opening lap for Newsham, who tagged Matt Neal further round and ended his race in the barrier.
Behind that, Jason Plato appeared to receive a slight tap from the Audi of Will Bratt which sent him sideways into the barrier, with the angle of the impact forcing the MG to roll.
The safety car thus made its second appearance of the afternoon, with Neal able to catch up to the back of the pack after being hit by Newsham.
Racing resumed on lap five with Turkington shooting off into the distance once more, with Shedden followed closely by the Airwaves duo of Jackson and Smith. As the race progressed, however, Shedden reeled in the Northern Irishman and on lap eight he made his move at Agostini, with Turkington again losing more than one position, as a spin forced him back to seventh.
From there Shedden and Jackson eased to the finish line, almost ten seconds ahead of a four way battle for the final podium spot.
Adam Morgan had again been quiet in the race but he looked as though he might claim the final spot on the podium as he closed in on Smith, but he was eventually forced to defend from the fierce pace of Sam Tordoff – who had made his way up from 18th on the grid via a coming together with Tom Onlsow-Cole – leaving Smith to complete the podium.
Morgan and Tordoff came home fourth and fifth, with Turkington recovering some ground by passing Andrew Jordan on the penultimate lap. Having been 22nd when the safety car came in, Matt Neal ran well to claim an eighth place finish, although his lead in the championship has been slashed this weekend. the WSR pair of Rob Collard and Nick Foster completed the top ten, ahead of Frank Wrathall and Rob Austin, who had run as high as fifth in the middle stage of the race.
Robb Holland added a further two points to his tally from the weekend with a 14th place finish, while Lea Wood became the first S2000 driver to win all three Jack Sears Trophies in one weekend, finishing two seconds in front of Andy Neate and scoring another point in the process.