Proctor began his BTC Racing Honda Civic Kind R from pole, however even the rear-wheel drive of Sutton’s Laser Instruments Racing Infiniti Q50 may solely draw him degree on the method to {Old} Corridor.
Sutton hung it across the outdoors and appeared to carry the benefit, however slight contact was made with Proctor on the exit of the nook, pushing the championship chief huge.
Sutton misplaced a number of locations, after which was compelled out of the race at Cascades with damaged left-rear suspension when his team-mate Carl Boardley bumped into him, after what seemed to be contact from Colin Turkington’s West Surrey Racing-run BMW 330i M Sport.
This was the second try to begin the race. On the preliminary getaway, Sutton had achieved the identical factor, however this time had sufficient momentum to edge away from Proctor on the exit of {Old} Corridor, and seemed all set to considerably prolong his championship lead.
However Sutton’s work was undone when Sam Osborne was edged huge on the Dentons kink, on the within of a three-abreast second with Tom Chilton and Chris Smiley.
Osborne received onto the grass, which spun him downhill and again onto the observe at Cascades, the place he was struck by Jack Butel’s Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai i30 N.
There was chaos, as Jack Mitchell, Jade Edwards, Ollie Jackson, Rick Parfitt, Nic Hamilton and Jack Goff all received concerned within the aftermath, and unsurprisingly the race was red-flagged. Osborne, Butel, Mitchell and Hamilton had been all absent from the restart.
The WSR BMW of Stephen Jelley gave Proctor critical grief on the opening lap, however the Honda driver scooted clear, and was 1.223 seconds in entrance by the tip of lap two.
From then on Proctor added tiny increments to the hole, and was over 2s in entrance when the race was red-flagged for the second and remaining time following a giant shunt on the quick Druids right-hander.
Second-race winner Rory Butcher had been troubled by power-steering issues on his Speedworks Motorsport-run Toyota Corolla, and was dropping down the order when Boardley suffered suspected brake failure heading into Druids.
The ex-hot rod king took to the grass on the within, however speared throughout the observe and the unlucky Butcher was thumped off the circuit by the stricken Infiniti.
“This weekend’s been the highs and lows of motorsport,” mentioned Proctor.
“We put it on pole for race one, after which I tousled the beginning, however I felt this race was redemption – it proves what I may have achieved.
“It’s a bit disheartening that it’s the reversed grid, however it proves we’ve received the tempo and might push on for the remainder of the 12 months.”
Gordon Shedden was third all through the race in his Crew Dynamics Honda Civic Kind R, whereas the battle-scarred LTR Infiniti of Aiden Moffat was fourth after muscling previous Adam Morgan’s Ciceley Motorsport BMW on the opening lap.
Dan Rowbottom (Dynamics Honda) accomplished his excellent day with sixth, forward of Jake Hill’s Motorbase-run MB Motorsport Ford Focus and Colin Turkington’s WSR BMW.
Chilton (Ciceley BMW) and Smiley, who recovered effectively from his first-race smash in his Excelr8 Honda, accomplished the highest 10.
Excelr8’s predominant title contender Tom Ingram was collateral injury of the Sutton/Proctor conflict – he was compelled huge, needed to pit to have grass faraway from the radiator, and completed behind the sector.