[crmalcolm]

Leading the first lap is Sutton, followed by Butcher, Hill, Morgan, Turkington, Cook, Oliphant, Plato, Moffat with Neal rounding out the top 10. Boardley is sat in last, behind Gornall and Thompson.
Lap 2, and Cammish moves up into the top ten, passing his team mate to retake the place. At the front, Butcher gets up the inside of Sutton into turn one, manages to hold the line and takes the lead of the race. Crees picks up a puncture towards the end of the lap. He pulls into the pits for a wheel change, which seems him back on track but now running last.
Lap3, Thompson gets past Smiley towards the back and takes 25th. Up towards the sharp end, Turkington gets a good traction out of the corner and pulls past Morgan to take 4th. Proctor moves past Bushell part way through the lap and takes 17th, looking to move into the points. Towards the end of the lap, Goff and Osborne tangle. Osborne can continue, but Goff drops off the pace as he recovers and loses two places. O.Jackson and Jelley are the beneficiaries moving up to 21st and 22nd.
Lap 4, Cammish continues to make good progress, passing Moffat to move up to 9th place. Gornall and Smiley come together, and both leave the track momentarily. Smiley gets back on before anyone catches up, but Gornall takes a bit longer to recover and must let Boardley and Crees – who is recovering from his earlier puncture – past before re-joining at the back of the field. The pack continues to shuffle a bit in the second sector. Cook gets past Morgan to take 5th place. O.Jackson is passed by Jelley and Goff in the space of one corner to drop to 23rd. Cress continues his recovery and moves past Boardley into 27th. Right at the front is where the most interest lies though, as Sutton retakes 1st place from Butcher. As the lap concludes, Turkington crosses the line in 3rd, having moved past Hill. He also sets the fastest lap so far in the process.
Lap 5, Neal follows Cammish’s lead and moves past Moffat into the top ten. The Hondas look like they are carrying the weight better than Moffat’s Infiniti. Sutton and Butcher continue to trade the lead, with Butcher moving back to the front this time. Crossing the line, the running order is Butcher, Sutton, Turkington, Hill, Cook, Morgan, Oliphant, Plato, Cammish and Neal.
Lap 6, Smiley moves past Thompson for 25th. Up towards the front, Oliphant picks up a place and takes 6th from Morgan. More pack shuffling, as Goff passes Jelley for 21st, and just ahead Osborne passes Rowbottom for 19th. In the leading bunch, Morgan continues to drop down the order as Plato picks up 7th. As the leaders pull onto the final straight, Turkington gets better traction out of the corner than Sutton and manages to pull ahead over the line for 2nd place. Further back Goff pulls into the pits from 21st. It looks like he’s been off into the gravel somewhere and has picked up debris. The team quickly clean it all out and he’s back on his way but doesn’t get out in time to avoid running last.
Lap 7, and we might be seeing the typical BTCC Race 3 action. Plato, Morgan and Cammish all try and make the same apex and look to be going through 3-abreast. Something must give though, and like a cork Cammish pops out in front, gaining two places in the process. Further back, when Boardley, Gornall and Crees all arrive at the same corner together, another 3-abreast attempt is made. Again though, there are winners and losers. Crees pops out like a cork, but backwards dropping back two places to 28th. Smiley looks to overtake Hamilton, attempting a move around the outside. Hamilton runs his car wide on the corner exit through, and Smiley takes to the grass. Unable to slow the car down, Smiley is into the barrier and that is race over. Plato is a bit out of shape following the incident with Morgan and Cammish, and Morgan manages to get by and reclaim 8th. At the front, the pressure from Turkington is too much for Butcher, who concedes the place and Turkington moves to the front of the field. As a hectic lap draws to a close, Jordan gets past Neal to move into the top ten. M.Jackson picks up 13th from Chilton. Bushell drops behind Osborne into 19th. Moving clear at the front, Turkington sets a new fastest lap. The running order is now: Turkington, Butcher, Sutton, Hill, Cook, Oliphant, Cammish, Morgan, Plato, Jordan. With Smiley out, Goff is running at the back behind Gornall.
Lap 8, and the drivers just outside the points continue to battle for position. Neate and Proctor tangle, giving Osborne the chance to sneak by and pick up 16th. Chilton gets back past M.Jackson as the two battle for 13th place. Meanwhile the other Jackson moves past Jelley into 21st. As they move into the chicane, Jordan lines up a move on Plato, which is successful, and he takes 9th place.
Lap 9, and seizing the chance, Ingram also passes M.Jackson as he regains his momentum, and Bushell takes 18th from Proctor. The BMWs are looking strong as the lap progresses, with Oliphant and Jordan both gaining another place. Sutton drops out of the podium places for the first time, as Hill gets by. Further back Jelley and O.Jackson trade places again in a battle that looks like it might run and run. Hill is looking good as the lap rounds out, and out of the chicane pulls past Butcher to cross the line in 2nd, hoping to make ground on the leader Turkington. The tussle between Jelley and O.Jackson looked to be increasingly tense, and as was becoming increasingly likely, ends in tears. Side by side into the chicane, Jelley can hold the line and O.Jackson is across the gravel, into the barrier and out of the race.
Lap 10, and after a quiet start to the lap, Moffat makes a lunge up the inside of Neal. The move is not on and running wide both Chilton and Ingram take that chance to move up, leaving Moffat in 14th. Over the line, and M.Jackson has dropped out of the points, being passed by Osborne on the straight.
Lap 11, and the drivers are heading into the last few laps of the day. Thompson and Boardley tussle towards the back of the field. The outcome sees Gornall and Cress gain a place each. Neal moves into the top ten, sliding past Plato in the process. Oliphant shows that the BMW is good on its tyres and carries weight well, snatching a place from Sutton to move up to 4th. In sector two, Proctor overtakes Bushell to take 18th. As a result, Bushell is forced wide and onto the grass. Recovery takes a while, and as Bushell gets back on the track he almost collects some of the other cars. Eventually everything settles down, but Bushell is now running last. Goff and Thompson both sneak an extra place amid the chaos, with Rowbottom taking up 19th place.
Lap 12 feels like the calm before the storm. M.Jackson gets back into the points to take 15th from Osborne. Gornall gains a place on Goff to move up to 25th.
Lap 13, Boardley gets a run down the straight and closes on Hamilton going into the first corner. Hamilton shuts the door and there is contact between the two. Hamilton spins but manages to gather it up and keep going. Boardley is not so lucky though and looks to have suspension failure. Pulling off to the side, he’s parked up and that is his day done. In sector two, Plato slips a further place back into 12th as he is passed by Chilton. Looking off the pace, Plato loses another place in the final sector as he is passed by Ingram, dropping to 13th. Outside of the points, Thompson passes Crees to take 22nd.
Lap 14, and we now have two BMWs in podium places as Oliphant gets past Butcher. Further back, and Moffat slips back a place, possibly due to the weight he’s carrying. M.Jackson moves up and the Astras are now running together. Oliphant continues his run through the lap, catching and passing Hill quickly to make it a BMW one-two. Plenty of change at the back of the field as the lap concludes. Jelley gets past Rowbottom to take 19th. Thompson gets past Hamilton to take 21st. Finally, Goff, Bushell and Gornall all battle it out, with Gornall dropping two places to 26th and is now the last of the runners.
Lap 15, Jordan, Cammish and Morgan cross the line 3-abreast battling for 7th. Everyone holds position into the first corner though to stay Cammish, from Jordan, from Morgan. Hamilton slips a place back after being passed by Crees for 22nd. Cammish and Jordan continue to run line astern, and on the back of Cook an opportunity to pass arises. Cammish squeezes inside, and before Cook can cut back across Jordan is also through. Cammish up to 6th, Cook down to 8th. In sector 3, Goff passes Hamilton to take 23rd over the line.
Lap 16 and heading into the last lap of the day it’s Turkington, Oliphant, Hill, Butcher, Sutton, Cammish, Jordan, Cook, Morgan and Neal making up the top ten. At the bottom end of the points, M. Jackson slips by Plato into 13th. Plato continues to struggle for pace, and it appears he may be nursing an issue on the car. Sector two sees Jelley move past Proctor to take 18th, whilst Gornall takes 25th from Bushell.
Little change at the front as the race ends, with Turkington laying a marker for the season lowering the fastest lap time again after his issues with qualifying at the start of the weekend. Further down though, as we possibly expected, there is a lot of mayhem in the midfield. Goff and Crees get caught up mid-corner, with Goff taking to the grass while Cress spins in front of the closing pack. When it all shakes out, Hamilton is the biggest winner gaining two places to take 22nd over the line. Gornall also gains two to take 23rd, whilst Cress crossed the line last in 26th.
The final order is:
1- Turkington
2- Oliphant
3- Hill
4- Butcher
5- Sutton
6- Cammish
7- Jordan
8- Cook
9- Morgan
10- Neal
11- Chilton
12- Ingram
13- M.Jackson
14- Plato
15- Moffat
16- Osborne
17- Neate
18- Jelley
19- Proctor
20- Rowbottom
21- Thompson
22- Hamilton
23- Gornall
24- Goff
25- Bushell
26- Crees
DNF - Boardley
DNF - O.Jackson
DNF - Smiley