Published: Thursday, 2nd August, 2007 12:00
Bay race ace up to fourth after victory at Snetterton
By Sports Desk
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WEST FIFE flyer Gordon Shedden moved up to fourth in the British Touring Cars Championship after a third win in as many meetings for the Dalgety Bay driver at Snetterton at the weekend.
The Knockhill business development manager took victory in the opening after BMW’s Colin Turkington was excluded but gear problems put paid to any chance of further podium finishes.
Having qualified in the second row of the grid, Shedden knew he needed to make a quick start to stay in touch with the fast-starting Team RAC BMWs and did exactly that to finish lap one right on the tail of second-placed Turkington.
When Turkington took the lead from Tom Onslow-Cole on lap five, Shedden quickly followed him through at Russell to go second and remained in that position until the flag – pressurising Turkington throughout.
However, after the race, Turkington was excluded from the results, giving Shedden his third win in as many meetings.
Victory meant Shedden led the second race from pole position until the seventh lap when he was passed by Fabrizio Giovanardi, Mat Jackson and Tom Chilton in a matter of corners after being forced wide.
However, the feisty Fifer was in determined mood and quickly reclaimed third from Chilton at the final corner and repeated the feat a lap later to go back into second past Jackson.
But his hopes of securing a second win of the day ended when he was forced to retire during a safety car period when his Honda Civic developed a gear linkage problem.
This meant he had to work his way through the field from 15th on the grid in race three but he carved his way through the pack to take a solid fifth place.
Afterwards Shedden said, “I had some luck with Colin being excluded but it’s only a little bit considering the amount of bad luck I’ve had this season.
“I feel for him as his car was underweight by something probably equivalent to a bottle of water and it wouldn’t have affected his car but the rules are the rules – and I’m not going to turn down a win.
“The second race was tough and the car felt good with the ballast and then we had a gear linkage problem that we’d never had before.
“It was important to get points from race three and 15th to fifth was a good effort as there weren’t cars going off left, right and centre to gift me the places.”
Shedden’s Team Halfords now lie third in the teams’ championship with three rounds to go, including an emotional homecoming to Knockhill for Shedden on 2nd September. Before that it’s Brands Hatch on 19th August and Shedden added, “I’m confident for Brands Hatch and I’m hoping that Brands and the other two rounds still left will be very strong for us.”
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