Plato Cruzes to victory at Oulton Park
 

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Jason Plato led home Championship rival Matt Neal in race two at Oulton Park, as both drivers came through the field to make the podium. Despite damaging his Chevrolet Cruze on the rears of both Team AON cars, Plato’s car held up to allow him to take his second win of the season, putting him back into the Championship lead.
Plato who began the race tenth, only just made the grid after his RML team had to change the clutch on his Chevrolet pre-race. But the 2001 BTCC Champion will be thankful for his team’s efforts, as he survived a late, light shower to hold off Neal and Tom Onslow-Cole for the win.

Post-race though, Plato was critical of Onslow-Cole’s tactics during their on track battle, whilst the Chevrolet driver echoed comments by Gordon Shedden and Rob Collard that the LPG powered Ford Focus was still too fast.

“We’ve got no weight on now and that Ford Focus has got 45kgs on,” said Plato to ITV4, “Yet it’s away down the straights like a lunatic. It must be the weather…”

Asked to reply to Plato’s comments about his driving, Onslow-Cole said of the lap ten incident that saw the Cruze take the lead at the Island hairpin, “I wouldn’t call it a move, I’d call it a crash!”

As in race one, Onslow-Cole had led from the start, holding the lead from Shedden, Collard, Jackson and Chilton.

Collard was removed from proceedings at Island on lap one, as Plato struck the back of Chilton, firing the Focus into the WSR car and rotating it mid-pack. Stranded in the middle of the track and facing the wrong way, MacDowall gently struck the BMW head on, further delaying both cars.

In the chaos Plato was the main benefactor, going around the outside of everyone to move up the order, while Martin Depper was another car facing the wrong way after being taken out by John Georg.

Shedden didn’t last much longer, his Honda Civic breaking its driveshaft at Knickerbrook before crawling back to the pitlane on the grass and out of the race.

Plato made his way past Chilton on lap three, taking a tighter line at Island before eventually out dragging the Focus over Hill Top. Jackson also fell victim to Plato at Island, with Plato giving the Airwaves BMW a rub on entry to force it wide, repayment for the race one clash between the two.

Chilton gradually fell away down the order, allowing Neal and Steven Kane up the ladder, while at the front Plato closed up on Chilton’s Team AON teammate. Despite having the lighter car, it took Plato some laps to get past, and when he eventually did it was with the help of a healthy dose of contact going into Island, that left the front of the Cruze flattened significantly.

With Onslow-Cole slowed at the hairpin, Plato then dived past under braking at the Knickerbrook chicane. Having passed Jackson when he ran wide at Old Hall, Neal then cleanly passed Onslow-Cole at Island and set off in pursuit of Plato.

A light shower towards the end of the race threatened to upset the applecart, but in the end the rain wasn’t enough to cause any changes, with Neal following Plato home, with Onslow-Cole, Jackson and Kane filling the next three positions.

Further back an impressive run from the pitlane by Lea Wood looked set to end in the points at only his second BTCC meeting, but John George had other ideas, piling into the back of his rival Integra runner at Lodge, sending Wood’s machine crunching into the back of David Pinkney.

Both Integra’s were damaged, with George’s eventually expiring in a cloud of steam, while Wood made it across the line in 11th, as in front of him MacDowall pipped Pinkney to ninth right on the line.

Post-race Paul O’Neill, who missed race two with a continuation of his gearbox problems, drew the number nine out of the hat, promoting MacDowall to the race three pole position, where he’ll be joined on the front row by Tom Boardman.

[source]



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