Snetterton races: Neal & O'Neill triumphant!

**touringlegend** · 9 Aug 2003, 21:14 (Ref:683862)

What a couple of races today!

Race 1 - Tim Harvey predicts a start line accident and what happens!!! I heard Warren Hughes got a fine and a good telling off for his part in the accident which I think is very harsh!

It was nice to see Paul O'Neill win - sadly though it was through Morrison's retirement two laps from home. Paul had been flying all race and at several points nearly had Alan passed - would of been even better to have won the race that way! Thommo and Muller came home 2nd and 3rd which made for a dreadful sight on the podium.

Neal won Race 2 by the skin of his teeth from Alan Morrison after he started slowing down towards the finish line. Alan avoided saying straight out to VBH that he did slow down to let Matt win but I think he did out of courtesy. I don't know if I'd have been as kind! It was good to see Muller out of the race from the championship point of view - but then it happens to Thompson and it's unbelievable! All this havoc promoted Reid and Turkington to 3rd and 4th which means the MG's will be ballasted around Brands, as will the best two Honda's whereas the Vauxhalls of Muller and Thommo are not!

Race 1 results - 1st: O'Neill; 2nd: Thompson; 3rd: Muller
Race 2 results - 1st: Neal; 2nd: Morrison; 3rd: Reid

McKay · 10 Aug 2003, 21:47 (Ref:684549)

got any pics of the accident anyone?

**Adam43** · 10 Aug 2003, 22:50 (Ref:684580)

Good coverage from Motors again. Catch the replays if you can.

Morrison was quite cagey to Vicki wasn't he. A nice bloke. If he did lift, I think it was fair enough - Neal had the race win (although a little lucky to miss out on one more lap of Thompson pressure).

I thought Thompson was going to get a bunch of free points relative to Muller, but hten at the end it all changed again. He also looked very hot afterwards - as was Muller's engine!

rdjones · 11 Aug 2003, 06:20 (Ref:684698)

Thommo was not a happy boy as he walked away from his car, it is a real shame as that was on hell of a battle between him and Neal. He was putting a lot of pressure on Neal, which forced Neal to go off twice.........

Les · 11 Aug 2003, 06:21 (Ref:684699)

didn't force Neal off - he found neutral twice and went all by himself.

**Adam43** · 11 Aug 2003, 16:45 (Ref:685199)

Well, probably a bit of both.

Whatever the Honda power and less ballast kept Neal ahead after those moments.

**touringlegend** · 11 Aug 2003, 16:55 (Ref:685208)

I see it like this - if it wasn't for the unreliability of the Honda this year then Matt Neal would have been champion - no doubt about it.

Neil Adams · 12 Aug 2003, 16:28 (Ref:686350)

heres a picture of the start line chaos can't see much but you can see what probably happened next

tally-bally-ho · 12 Aug 2003, 17:05 (Ref:686393)

How did Neal get away with missing out the chicane twice? Isn't there a penalty for this? I don't want him to get a penalty, just want to establish what the rules are on this subject.

redshoes · 12 Aug 2003, 17:23 (Ref:686412)

There's only a penalty if he is judged to have gained an advantage as a result, e.g. if he had overtaken another car. As I recall he wasn't the only one to miss the chicane - Turkington overshoot completely.

**Craig** · 12 Aug 2003, 17:29 (Ref:686419)

I seem to recall Jimmy Edwards comprehensively missing it too - a line I've never seen taken before!!

redshoes · 12 Aug 2003, 17:39 (Ref:686428)

He was on the grass coming out of Corum and probably decided it was quicker to keep it pointing forward than try to get back on the track and take the normal line. Not sure why he ran wide in the first place but he did seem to suddenly go off-line so maybe a gearbox problem.

**Craig** · 12 Aug 2003, 17:45 (Ref:686435)

Indeed.

manicmarshal · 12 Aug 2003, 17:46 (Ref:686439)

Quote:

Originally posted by McKay
got any pics of the accident anyone?

There are some more pics of the incident and damage on www.aj-photo.co.uk They may take a while to load up but worth the wait.

Jonny Apex · 12 Aug 2003, 20:01 (Ref:686564)

Quote:

Originally posted by redshoes
He was on the grass coming out of Corum and probably decided it was quicker to keep it pointing forward than try to get back on the track and take the normal line. Not sure why he ran wide in the first place but he did seem to suddenly go off-line so maybe a gearbox problem.

Maybe it had something to do with his car suffering power steering failure! See the official website race report. www.tocatour.co.uk
Jimmy was desperately unfortunate to retire at the last corner of the first race when a fourth in class was his for the taking. So too was another Jimmy - he of the Thompson variety - in the second.
Full credit to Matt Neal for winning that second race. Not only did he keep getting neutral between downshifts from fifth to fourth and third to second, but he also had to contend with a car full of exhaust fumes. His working of the traffic under pressure from Thompson was exemplary.
Don't tell me the Vauxhalls are suddeny about to hit a string of mechanical retirements and Neal is going to sneak up on them for a three-way fight at Oulton? No, no. That's silly.

Neil Adams · 13 Aug 2003, 07:30 (Ref:686868)

Hughes also went straight on at the esses, the amazing thing was he didn't slow down at all!

he just carryed on racing speed on an old bit of tarmac thats off the circuit apexing a corner so that one side of the car was up in the air!

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Paul O'Neill	mcurtis26	Touring Car Racing	1	10 Mar 2004 13:26
Neal or O'Neill?	The Bear	Touring Car Racing	23	23 Sep 2003 16:22
Paul O'Neill	redshoes	Touring Car Racing	21	6 Jun 2001 19:25