As the leading pack of cars blasted round Thruxton line astern, one car on the move was the luridly coloured Integra of Dave Pinkney, which had started from 15th on the grid after contact with Fabrizio Giovanardi had resulted in a retirement in race one. By lap five, the Motorbase Performance man was up to eighth after battling past the Italian and soon started to close on the sister Astra of Gavin Smith for seventh. On lap nine, Pinkney claimed the place with a daring move around the outside at the Complex while another Astra was losing places as Chilton got sideways out of Village to let Collard by into fourth – Turkington following him through on the run up to Club.
It left Neal leading from Shedden, with Turner still in touch in third having failed with a move on the Scot on lap seven. The two MGs were fourth and fifth, with Chilton sixth and 'man on a mission' Pinkney seventh when the safety car was deployed to allow marshals to remove debris from
the circuit.
As the safety car pulled into the pits at the start of lap 13, Pinkney caught Chilton napping to blast past the youngster on the restart for sixth and a lap later the black and pink Integra launched an identical move to take fifth from Turkington.
All over the rear of Rob Collard, Pinkney would then pick up another place on lap 16 – the race having been extended by two laps due to the safety car period – when Turner and Shedden made contact fighting for second at the Complex. Although both cars would continue, Turner lost momentum which allowed Collard into third at his home circuit and Pinkney into fourth.
With the squabbling behind giving him some breathing space, Neal picked up a victory which further extends his championship lead, with Shedden second and Collard third – despite the best efforts of Pinkney on the final two laps to find a way past the MG, the two making contact on the final lap to send Collard straight over the kerbs.
Source crash.net
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