Plato Takes Second Win Of The Day
Jason Plato made it two wins from two races at Brands Hatch this afternoon and continued the strong start to his title defence.
From pole position, Plato got good traction off the line to lead the pack into Paddock Hill Bend. Behind him Mat Jackson made a brave move around the outside of James Nash to take second.
Tom Chilton didn’t get away well off the line and this allowed the fast starting Alex MacDowall and Honda’s Gordon Shedden to get the jump on him. Unfortunately for MacDowall, he had been a little too eager to get away off the line and was given a drive through penalty for jumping the start.
Behind the frontrunners there was chaos at the first corner as Tom Onslow-Cole and Tom Boardman collided ending both of their races and triggering a safety car.
Once Boardman’s car had been moved from the middle of the track, Plato was put under severe pressure by Mat Jackson who in the early stages looked to have the faster car. However, Plato showed all of his experience by defending robustly but fairly from the Airwaves Racing man.
Plato’s defence allowed Gordon Shedden to catch the pair. The Scot had managed to drive clean around the outside of James Nash shortly after the restart and was then promoted to third when MacDowall served his penalty. Once Shedden caught the lead duo, he began to attack Jackson which allowed Plato a little bit of breathing space and he managed to create a bit of a gap back to Jackson.
Shedden had to wait until the closing stages of the race to make his move. With three laps to go he got a better run out of Surtees and got down the inside of Jackson, before completing the move on the start finish straight. Jackson tucked in behind in the hope of getting a good run out of Paddock but with his tyres looking past their best he was unable to keep up with Shedden.
Instead, he spent the last two laps protecting his podium finish from James Nash.
By this time Plato had a comfortable lead and came through to collect his second victory of the day and extend his championship lead. Shedden finished second ahead of Jackson and Nash, with Paul O’Neill a lonely but extremely solid fifth.
Andrew Jordan and Matt Neal came from the back of the grid to finish sixth and seventh respectively, and courtesy of the draw for the reverse grid, they will start the final race of the day on the front row of the grid, just as they began the first race.
Tom Chilton was eighth after failing to show the pace he had in the opener. Rob Collard and Tony Gilham completed the point scorers.
The final race of the day begins at 17:05.
Photo Credit: Pete mainey (http://www.psmmotorsportimages.co.uk)
Thomas Surgay
