Plato Wins To Consolidate Championship Lead
Jason Plato took the final win of the day at Knockhill to increase his lead in the championship to 20 points.
It was a hard fought victory for the former champion who spent most of the race staring at the back of Tom Onslow-Cole’s Ford Focus. Plato had made it up to second at the end of the first lap, thanks mainly to a collision between Onslow-Cole and Mat Jackson. With neither man prepared to yield coming out of the chicane, the inevitable contact saw Jackson forced into the gravel trap and Onslow-Cole just manage to keep everything pointing in the right direction. Jackson would recover to finish fifth.
The safety car was deployed whilst Dave Pinkney’s car was moved from the edge of the circuit. When the race restarted, Onslow-Cole had to defend vigorously from Plato who was faster than him at most parts of the circuit. The key for Onslow-Cole was his straight line speed and this was good enough to keep Plato behind, until with just a handful of laps remaining, an Onslow-Cole mistake heading towards the hairpin allowed Plato to be closer than he had been at any other part of the race. After a good exit from the hairpin, Plato pulled alongside and took the inside line into the first corner. From this point it was straight forward, with Plato demonstrating just how quick the Chevrolet was by pulling out a decent gap over Onslow-Cole.
Onslow-Cole hung on for second position despite Matt Neal’s best efforts to force his way through on the final lap. Neal took third and will be pretty pleased with his day’s work, his solid points haul moves him back into second position in the championship.
Paul O’Neill was fourth in the Tech Speed Honda after a spirited drive from tenth on the grid.
For the full result, see here: http://www.tsl-timing.com/toca/2010/103503trg.pdf
Photo credit: Pete Mainey
Thomas Surgay
