ahead of Racecar's driver Tom Chilton

Scottish ace Shedden, in his Honda Civic, took the chequered flag ahead of Team Aon Ford driver Tom Chilton, who’d started from pole position, and the BMW of Mat Jackson which came through from 12th on the grid to finish third.

Plato’s demise came on lap 12 in a five-car pile-up at the chicane, his Silverline Chevrolet Cruze crashing into the barriers with broken steering. Elsewhere, his other title rivals, Honda’s Matt Neal and Aon’s Tom Onslow-Cole, who were both caught up in the same incident, finished fifth and eighth.

The result has a significant bearing on the title race – Plato still leads but by the decreased margin of 14 points over Neal. Shedden is up to third, just three points further back who is an identical margin clear of Onslow-Cole. Chilton stays fifth but, with bonuses for pole position and the race's fastest lap - a new record - he is now just 46 points behind Plato who will have to start race two of three from the back of the grid.

For full results click here: http:/www.btcc.net/html/raceresults_detail.php?race_id=76&season_id=53

Meanwhile, a sequence of photos of the Plato crash incident can be viewed in the Fans section of btcc.net

Shedden, who’d spent most of the race nibbling at and being nibbled by the two Aon cars, said: “That was one of the toughest wins. Onslow-Cole was in front but was braking very early and stacking me back into Chilton so he could keep having a go. I had to make my move and it paid off but phew!”

And added Chilton: “I was lucky to miss everything that went off at the chicane. Luckily most of it was happening in my mirrors but there were still bits flying over my car.”

Jackson seemed surprised to be third having started from the sixth row of the grid, saying: “Where did I come from!? I just saw it all kicking off in front of me and drove through it all. Then held on!”

The start of the race saw Chilton lose his pole position advantage to both Onslow-Cole and Shedden into the first corner as, behind, both Andrew Jordan and Robert Collard made it past Neal and Plato into fourth and fifth places.

On lap five a tangle between Paul O’Neill’s Honda, Tom Boardman’s SEAT and Steven Kane’s BMW’s sent the former spinning to a halt on the infield exiting Coppice Corner – triggering a safety car period. Once his car was retrieved the race resumed but almost immediately there was a second safety car period as the leading group of cars had their moment of madness at the chicane.

Shedden, as in the first part of the race, was having to fight tooth and nail to tame the two Fords – at one point his car was off the track along Starkeys Straight in a clash with Chilton – and at McLeans corner lunged his way into the lead past Onslow-Cole. This cost the latter dear for at Coppice he was further demoted by both Chilton and Neal, although fought back to on Starkeys to enter the chicane side by side with the Honda. Under braking, though, Plato nudged Neal’s rear forcing him wide and into the tetrosyl barriers that line the edge of the circuit.

Onslow-Cole’s car also struck one of the barriers and, with debris flying, Neal cannoned back into Plato, this instantly breaking the Chevroilet's steering as it ran off the track into the barriers. Jordan, following at a distance after a trip through the gravel trap at McLeans, also struck one of the bouncing barriers and smacked Collard’s WSR BMW into a spin. Collard would recover to finish a distance 16th but Jordan’s damaged Pirtek Vauxhall Vectra joined Plato on the sidelines, clobbering it as it came to rest.

Following another safety car period, the race came down to a two-lap sprint at the end, Shedden holding off Chilton while, behind, Jackson kept Plato’s team-mate Alex MacDowall at bay for third. Neal, with damage to his bonnet, was fifth ahead of Kane who had come through from 21st on the grid after a disastrous qualifying session.

Onslow-Cole looked to be on course for seventh but, with heavy damage to the front of his car, was passed by Tom Boardman’s Special Tuning UK SEAT at the Old Hairpin on the final lap. Onslow-Cole thus crawled over the line in eighth ahead of impressive series returnee James Kaye in his WRC/Barwell Honda Integra and David Pinkney, deservedly earning a point in tenth having also started from near the back of the grid after problems in qualifying.

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