Ant Whorton-Eales has bounced back perfectly from his race one disappointment to take his sixth victory of the 2016 Renault UK Clio Cup season so far at the head of a JamSport Racing one-two with Luke Kidsley at Snetterton.
In the opening race of the weekend a first corner challenge for the lead ended badly for Kidsley, but this time around he got the jump on pole-sitter Mike Bushell to lead the field into the Wilson hairpin for the first time, with the fast-starting Whorton-Eales demoting Bushell to third.
That began a thrilling battle for the lead between the top three, with Bushell able to gain some ground back on lap five as he dived down the inside of Whorton-Eales at the Wilson hairpin, but by the same spot on the next lap it was all change once again.
That was courtesy of a sensational move by Whorton-Eales that saw him dive down the inside of both Bushell and then Kidsley heading through Riches and into the Wilson braking zone, giving him the race lead from fifth on the grid.
As the JamSport duo got their head down at the front, Bushell was left to battle with Max Coates and Paul Rivett over the final podium position, with both drivers getting ahead of the championship leader at Hamilton and Oggies respectively.
By the end of the lap however Coates had dropped back to fifth, with Rivett producing a superb move around the outside at Brundle, with a little nudge wide at Nelson allowing Bushell to work his way back ahead too.
That would be the last change of position in the top five for the race, with Whorton-Eales leading them home to continue his record of winning one in every two races so far this season, while Kidsley maintained second for his best result in the championship so far.
Rivett therefore completed the podium – the perfect response following his retirement in race one – ahead of Bushell and Coates, while Paul Streather rounded out the top six after pulling clear of a close fought battle between Chris Smiley, Lee Pattison and Charlie Ladell.
Senna Proctor completed the top ten ahead of his Team Pyro stablemates David Dickenson and Josh Price, the latter losing a position after being handed a five second penalty for exceeding track limits – a punishment also handed to debutant Shayne Deegan who finished seventeenth.
Rory Collingbourne, Ollie Pidgley, Dan Zelos and Anton Spires completed the top sixteen ahead of him, those four having been part of a massive battle in the midfield that provided plenty of entertainment for the live ITV4 television cameras.
Full race results can be found here.
