‘Super Shedds’ Takes First Victory Of 2007 Season As New Civic Wins Again
Jun 25, 2007
Jaokb Ebrey
Team Halfords has secured its second win of the 2007 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship campaign after Gordon ‘Flash’ Shedden took his first win of the year at Oulton Park.
At the scene of his maiden BTCC win, Gordon stormed to victory in the opening race of the weekend and just missed out on a podium finish in race three, while team-mate Matt Neal picked up two fourth place finishes with the ever improving Team Dynamics built and designed Honda Civic.
It means that both Gordon and Matt have now won this season with Team Halfords’ first Super 2000 entry, which was the only front-wheel drive car to lead a session or win a race at the picturesque circuit in Cheshire.
Race One:
Starting on the front row of the grid alongside Colin Turkington, Shedden made a solid start to maintain his position during the opening lap and then made his move for the lead at the start of lap two, putting the Team Halfords Honda down the inside of Turkington’s BMW to move into first place. From there, the rapid Scot extended his lead to secure his first win with the Honda Civic.
Team-mate Matt started from third on the grid, but lost out at the start to the Vauxhall of Fabrizio Giovanardi. Holding fourth at the end of the opening lap, Matt was forced to settle for the position after being unable to find a way past Turkington’s BMW - which had dropped behind Giovanardi following Gordon’s pass for the lead.
Race Two:
After the high of race one, the second race ended in disappointment for Flash when he was taken out on the opening lap by the SEAT of Jason Plato at the hairpin. Contact from the SEAT saw Gordon pushed into side of Tom Chilton’s Vauxhall and the resulting damage saw him forced to retire.
Matt had moved up to third at the start before a lengthy Safety Car period following an accident at the opening corner further down the field. Following a second Safety Car later in the race, Matt came under pressure from Mike Jordan in one of the ex-Team Halfords Honda Integras, with Mike taking third at the final corner on lap twelve, leaving Matt with his second fourth place finish of the day.
Race Three:
The final race would end in disappointment for Matt after an incident at the opening corner forced him to retire. After being tipped sideways following contact with Plato’s SEAT, Matt was hit by Turkington which damaged the front upright of the Civic and put him out of the race.
However, Gordon was a man on a mission as he aimed to put the disappointment of race two behind him, storming through the field from the back of the grid to finish in fourth place. As was the case at Croft, Flash picked off places throughout the race and simply ran out of laps in his quest to secure a second podium finish of the day. However, his solid result, added to those achieved earlier in the day by both drivers, ensured that Team Halfords picked up the teams trophy at the end of the weekend.
