Gordon Shedden finally managed the victory he had been trying for all day as he battled with Rob Collard to take a last lap victory.
The race was again stopped by a lap one red flag. This time Alex Martin spun and Hunter Abbott hit his car from behind launching the Power Maxed Chevrolet into a barrel roll. Mark Howard and Ollie Jackson were also pulled into the crash, with Jackson also hitting the stricken Hunter Abbott as he went off. Abbott’s car rolled so fast and hard that it ran up the Armco barrier and into a camera position sending the camera man flying as the entire structure collapsed. Fortunately all involved were fine including the Tv cameraman who escaped with just minor scrapes and bruises.
Sam Tordoff, who was on the reverse grid pole then pulled off at the end of the green flag lap for the second start. His driveshaft had failed and the failure to finish will be a blow to his championship ambitions.
Tom Ingram should have been well placed to take advantage but both him and Adam Morgan were shuffled down the order with several cars brushing past them.
Jason Plato was the early leader but he had Rob Collard on his tail and before long Collard was making a move to pass him on lap two. Behind Shedden’s Honda was on a charge and he passed Rob Austion for fourth on the third lap. Mat Jackson then passed Plato for third. Shedden followed demoting Plato to fifth.
Jackson then dramatically slowed with electrical issues. This left Shedden free to chase down Collard. He finally caught him on the final lap and the two ran side by side for much of the final lap, in the same way Collard had raced with Matt Neal in the other Honda in the previous race.
Shedden pulled enough ahead after Bombhole corner to take the win from Collard.
Behind, Rob Austin had moved into third and he managed to hang on to this position to cross the line and also take the independent win. Behind him were Plato, Jordan and Turkington in fourth, fifth and sixth.
Adam Morgan Wix Racing Mercedes battled the similar machine of Aiden Moffat. Morgan won the battle to take seventh ahead of the Laser Tools Racing driver Moffat in eighth.
Josh Cook took ninth on what has been a difficult day for the works MG team with Matt Neal completing the top ten.
Jake Hill finished a positive day with eleventh ahead of Tom Ingram and Jack Goff. Fourteenth was Ashley Sutton’s MG. It was a miracle his car started at all after it looked to be wrecked in the race two pile up.
Jeff Smith took the final points in fifteenth.
Michael Epps won the Jack Sears Rookie award today after taking the best results of any of the Rookie’s this weekend.
Collard’s second was enough to take the championship lead from team mate Tordoff who drops to second in the standings, three points behind. Matt Neal’s works Honda is third with Shedden is fourth. Turkington incredibly moves into championship contention in fifth. WSR lead the manufacturers championship from Honda and MG with Subaru coming up fast in fourth.
Team JCT600 with Gardx (WSR) lead the team’s championship from Honda and Motorbase.
The independents battle is being lead by Andrew Jordan from Tom Ingram and Mat Jackson.
The championship now heads north to Scotland and the popular circuit of Knockhill. This short but challenging circuit often brings surprising results and it will be interesting to see who comes out on top north of the border!
Tickets are available from Knockhill.com
Race three results
1 Gordon SHEDDEN (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing 19m56.310s
2 Robert COLLARD (GBR) Team JCT600 Racing with GardX +0.525s
3 Rob AUSTIN (GBR) Handy Motorsport +3.738s
4 Jason PLATO (GBR) Silverline Subaru BMR Racing +4.306s
5 Andrew JORDAN (GBR) Motorbase Performance +4.406s
6 Colin TURKINGTON (GBR) Silverline Subaru BMR Racing +5.278s
7 Adam MORGAN (GBR) WIX Racing +6.288s
8 Aiden MOFFAT (GBR) Laser Tools Racing +6.434s
9 Josh COOK (GBR) MG Racing RCIB Insurance +6.621s
10 Matt NEAL (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing +7.219s
11 Jake HILL (GBR) RCIB Insurance Racing +8.724s
12 Tom INGRAM (GBR) Speedworks Motorsport +9.365s
13 Jack GOFF (GBR) Team IHG Rewards Club +16.650s
14 Ashley SUTTON (GBR) MG Racing RCIB Insurance +17.339s
15 Jeff SMITH (GBR) Eurotech Racing +18.337s
16 Martin DEPPER (GBR) Eurotech Racing +18.777s
17 Aron SMITH (IRL) BKR +19.945s
18 Kelvin FLETCHER (GBR) Power Maxed Racing +20.718s
19 James COLE (GBR) Silverline Subaru BMR Racing +21.238s
20 Michael EPPS (GBR) RCIB Insurance Racing +23.045s
21 Stewart LINES (GBR) Maximum Motorsport +35.751s
22 Warren SCOTT (GBR) Silverline Subaru BMR Racing +4 laps
23 Mat JACKSON (GBR) Motorbase Performance +8 laps
24 Alex MARTIN (GBR) Dextra Racing
25 Mark HOWARD (GBR) BKR
26 Ollie JACKSON (GBR) AmD Tuning.com
27 Hunter ABBOTT (GBR) Power Maxed Racing
28 Matt SIMPSON (GBR) Speedworks Motorsport
29 Sam TORDOFF (GBR) Team JCT600 Racing with GardX By Marc Waller
