Mike Bushell held off a late charging Max Coates to complete a double victory at Croft and further extend his healthy Renault UK Clio Cup championship lead.
Bushell stormed away from pole position to lead into an early safety car period, which was caused by fellow front-row starter, the impressive debutant Sam Randon.
An unfortunate spin for Randon on the opening lap led to him being collected by the unsighted Daniel Rowbottom, forcing both into an instant retirement.
It was James Colburn who led the challenge to Bushell at the restart, but with his mirrors filled by the local hero Coates, Bushell could start to build a lead.
Colburn’s stranglehold on second was maintained until lap seven, when a great move around the high-speed Jim Clark Esses put Coates in front.
While the gap between the two extended to nearly two seconds at one stage, Coates was a man on a mission and began to close rapidly on the leader.
Unfortunately for the Ciceley Motorsport man, he ran out of laps before he could make a move on the leader, with Bushell taking his fifth win of the year by less than half a second.
Coates took the fastest lap of the race in second, while Paul Rivett completed the podium following a sensational move on Colburn through the Esses.
Colburn fended off new Graduates Cup leader Nathan Harrison and Lee Pattison to take fourth, with Pattison now slipping 69 points adrift of Bushell at the top of the standings.
Dan Zelos held off James Dorlin for seventh, the latter having been challenging for fourth at one stage, while Shayne Deegan and Jack McCarthy completed the top ten.
Lucas Orrock took eleventh on the road but was handed a time penalty following an incident with Aaron Thompson, dropping him to thirteenth behind Sam Osborne and Thompson.
Full race results can be found here: http://tsl-timing.com/file/?f=TOCA/2017/172303cli.pdf
