Shedden wins opener at Knockhillposted in KNOCK05 | 09 | 2010

FLYING FIFER Gordon Shedden got his day off to the perfect start when he won the opening race of the British Touring Car Championship triple-header at Knockhill.

Starting from second on the grid, the 31-year-old from Dalgety Bay got the ideal start in his Team Honda Civic and out-dragged the Chevrolet of polesitter Alex MacDowall into the first corner.

But as the dup diced for the lead as they dived down the 60mph right-hander into Duffus Dip, Shedden's Honda was nudged into a massive slide. Grabbing a fistful of opposite lock, the Scot held on to the car and somehow managed to continue in the lead.

"Yeh, that was a big moment," admiited Shedden , who then powered away from the field to win comfortably by 1.592secs ahead of MacDowall who clinched his best finish of the year. "That could have been the weekend, and the championship, over in a flash.

"There's always going to be a mad scrap at the first corner here and I'm just glad I was able to hold on to the car and get through the corner still on-track. After that it was pretty much plain sailing. Now I have to make sure I repeat the win in the second race."

The win means Shedden stays in fourth in the championship, but has closed the gap to his team-mate Matt Neal in third to just two points. Neal finished fourth, two places ahead of the Chevrolet of championship leader Jason Plato. Shedden has also cut the gap to Plato from 33 points to 22.

Jim McGill