Colin Turkington won race one here at Rockinghamm after passing Sam Tordoff on the start. Tordoff , who was on pole couldn’t match Turkington’s start and settled into second place.
Plato who started third initially was close behind Tordoff but fell away slightly at the end.
If the top three were relatively static, it was all action behind with a frantic battle for fourth. Initially Honda Yuasa Racing’s Gordon Shedden held the position and was battling Plato in the very early but after contact with the MG he dropped down the order after a big spin and eventually took eighth. Adam Morgan then took the place and looked like he might hold onto it but Alain Menu was charging through the field after starting on the Soft Dunlop tyre for this race. As Menu reached the top half of the field you would have expected his charge to be slowed but he dispatched Andrew Jordan fairly easily and then took both Airwaves Focus after Jackson made contact with Giovanardi. He then took fourth place crossing the line to start the penultimate lap. Behind Morgan in fifth was Andrew Jordan, who had looked stronger early on but seemed to fade slightly towards the end and sixth was the best he could do.
Seventh was the first of the squabbling Airwaves team mates, Giovanardi who eventually got the better of his team mate who fell to ninth behind Shedden. Jack Goff completed the top ten. Eleventh was Rob Collard and the first of the rear wheel drive cars not driven by Turkington! He was followed home by Rob Austin with Tom Ingram in thirteenth, seemingly unable to make any progress this time. Fourteenth was Hunter Abbott. The Alcosense Racing driver put in perhaps the drive of the race to go from dead last to a points finish. Last of the points finishers was Nick Foster in fifteenth.
The race was interrupted by a safety car scrambled after a big accident at the Deene Hairpin that left Warren Scott stranded on three wheels and Lea Wood limping home with a car which no longer had a boot. The car was now significantly shorter such was the force of his impact and he will be unable to take any further part in the weekend. Full Results on TSL Timing By Marc Waller
