Gordon Shedden won the final frenetic Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship race at Snetterton, which much like the second contest, was full of excitement and incident.
Airwaves Racing rounded off a sensational day with its drivers Mat Jackson and Aron Smith securing second and third respectively.
The eBay Motors BMW of Colin Turkington shot past Shedden and pole-sitter Dave Newsham off the line to lead the huge field into Riches for the first time, but the real drama came later on the opening lap.
After being quickly shuffled down the order, Newsham tipped Matt Neals Honda Civic into a spin at Williams and almost simultaneously behind them Jason Plato's car spun out of control. Platos MG6 was unfortunately fired across the tarmac before hitting the barrier hard on the inside of the corner, which tipped his car into a dramatic barrel roll. The two-time BTCC champion walked away unharmed from the spectacular incident, but the safety car was deployed to remove his stricken vehicle.
The drama continued immediately after the restart when Bratt crashed into the barrier and out of the race at Riches, whilst the Toyota Avensis of Ollie Jackson endured its own wild spin and the Proton of Daniel Welch picked up a puncture.
The race settled down for a few laps but Shedden honed in on Turkingtons lead and they became the next duo to get caught up in incident. The Honda Yuasa Racing Civic moved up the inside of the BMW 125i M Sport at Agostini and an almost inevitable clash unfolded. Turkington was forced wide and Shedden nipped through to take the lead.
Shedden and Jackson cruised away from the battle for third, which built from a two-car tussle into a four-car fight by the finish. Incredibly Smith held on despite multiple attempts by Ciceley Racings Adam Morgan to get by. As the two fought hard over the same tarmac, Andrew Jordan and Sam Tordoff swarmed up behind them.
Tordoff took fifth from Jordan at Riches and his late attacks on Morgan allowed Smith some breathing space until the finish. Morgan held on to his well-earned fourth place, whilst the charging Tordoff took an mightily impressive fifth despite having started the race down in 18th. The recovering Turkington completed the top six ahead of the ballast laden Jordan.
Championship leader Matt Neal fought back to finish ninth after his earlier off, with late passes by the eBay Motors duo of Rob Collard and Nick Foster, who both rounded out the top ten order.
Lea Wood completed another routine victory in the Jack Sears Trophy and impressively scored overall championship points for the second time today.
2013 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car ChampionshipSnettertonRace 3
1 Gordon Shedden (Honda Yuasa Racing) 15 Laps2 Mat Jackson (Airwaves Racing) +3.090 3 Aron Smith (Airwaves Racing) +10.656 4 Adam Morgan (Ciceley Racing) +11.995 5 Sam Tordoff (MG KX Momentum Racing) +12.578 6 Colin Turkington (eBay Motors) +12.991 7 Andrew Jordan (Pirtek Racing) +13.846 8 Matt Neal (Honda Yuasa Racing) +18.939 9 Robert Collard (eBay Motors) +19.055 10 Nick Foster (eBay Motors) +20.445 11 Frank Wrathall (Dynojet) +20.925 12 Rob Austin (WIX Racing) +25.712 13 Ollie Jackson (Speedworks Motorsport) +28.131 14 Robb Holland (RCIB Insurance Racing) +33.626 15 Lea Wood (Wheel Heaven/Houseman Racing) +34.736 16 Andy Neate (Team Club 44) +36.394 17 Tom Onslow-Cole (PPCGB/Kraftwerk Racing) +37.965 18 David Nye (Welch Motorsport with Sopp + Sopp) +48.765 19 Jeff Smith Honda Civic +1:13.835 20 Daniel Welch (Welch Motorsport with Sopp + Sopp) +1 Lap
Not Classified- Will Bratt (Rob Austin Racing) +11 Laps - Jack Goff (RCIB Insurance Racing) +11 Laps - Liam Griffin (Addison Lee Motorbase) +14 Laps - Dave Newsham (Speedworks Motorsport) +15 Laps
