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Starting from the back of the pack, Colin White took a sensational double victory at the opening Days of Thunder event at Rockingham on Sunday, just one tenth of a second ahead of local hero Anthony Swan in the second 60-lap race. White and Swan dominated the race after the pit stops, with Swan taking the lead from White with five laps to go in an audacious move around the outside of Turns Two and Three, only for White to return the compliment two laps later. White lined up for the start of Round Two of the Days of Thunder series on pole position after winning the opening race, but was forced to start from the back of the after pitting during the parade laps with a loose HT lead. At the start Stevie Hodgson stormed to the front ahead of Mark Proctor and Ben Collins, with Swan and John Steward chasing hard behind. Collins moved up to second after passing Proctor on the inside of Turn Two on lap 5, while further back White was making up for lost time and was already up to sixth place. Collins was the fastest man on the track and closed up on leader Hodgson, these two leaving a gap to Proctor and Swan, with Steward losing touch with the front four. The yellow flags were waved on Lap 11 for debris on Turn Three, closing the field up for the restart three laps later. Hodgson got a flyer of a start and pulled clear of Collins, while Swan moved to third, going up the inside of Proctor in Turn One and White took Steward in Turn Two then Proctor in Turn Four to move into fourth place. Hodgson had to defend his position in front of Collins, being forced to give way as Collins dived up his inside into Turn Four on Lap 16 to take the lead. Fastest man on the track at this stage, however, was White who had closed up with the leaders, taking third place from Swan going side-by-side through Turns Two and Three. The yellows came out again as Shaun Richardson in the Team Darkness car was turned into a spin in an incident with Michael Vergers coming out of Turn Four, careering down the home straight and into the inside retaining wall. The green flag was waved on Lap 26, three laps before the pit stop window, with Collins in front of Hodgson and White, but Collins began to ease clear as White forced his way by Hodgson in Turn Four, clashing doors as he did so. As the leaders came in to change tyres, Collins had a disastrous stop with a problem with the front right tyre, leaving White in the lead ahead of Swan, with a huge gap to third-placed Steward, who was having his best race in Days of Thunder with Hodgson and Collins next. Collins was charging his way around the 1.5-mile oval, setting the fastest lap of the race on Lap 32. Collins caught and passed Hodgson on Lap 38 in Turn One, as Swan closed back up on to the tail of White’s Chevrolet. Steward in third got badly held up by backmarkers, allowing Collins to bear down on him. As the laps peeled off, Swan was putting increasing pressure on White, these two having the race to themselves, more than nine seconds ahead of Steward and Collins. Collins went third on Lap 46 going around the outside of Turn Three as White led by 0.7 seconds. A backmarker held up White into Turn Four on Lap 49, allowing Swan a run up the inside of Turn One, the two leaders running wheel-to-wheel through Turn Two, but White held on grimly as the race entered the last ten laps. Swan increased the pressure on the leader, closing up in Turn Four and Turn One and on Lap 55, after a good run out of Turn One Swan went for the lead around the outside of White. The two drivers drove side-by-side in a superb display of racing driving – neither man giving an inch but always leaving room for each other to race fairly. Swan now led but two laps later White made the same move on Swan into Turn Two and made it past to regain the lead. Swan never gave up and closed right up on White into the last bend and while White held the inside line, Swan took to the outside, finishing just a car length behind at the flag in a fantastic race. Collins finished third, closing up to just under four seconds behind the front two, with Steward finishing fourth for the second race in a row. Photos from the day - CLICK on image to see larger version
DRIVER QUOTES COLIN WHITE: "I had a hard race. On the warm up laps the plug came off. I spoke to my crew chief and decided it was best just to come in and sort it. Through the race I persevered. I hit Stevie Hodgson coming out of Turn Four when the wind caught me. With these gurney rims on the back the back of the car can sometimes step out. Through the race I kept reeling the rest in and then towards the end, I was quick in Turns Two and Three and Swan was quick in Turn Four. “In Turn Two there was a side window by the walI no-one had noticed so I had to go low to let Anthony have room round the outside. I had to let him get by but went for it with two laps to go. There’s no reason not to do it again next time.” ANTHONY SWAN: “I feel like second today was as good as a win. Colin and I have respect for each other on the track. He was better than me through Turns Two and Three while I could go deep into Turn Four. Into Turn One I could feel the car going away from me so even though I got inside him I had to back off otherwise we would have hit. After all you wouldn’t drive your road car into a roundabout at 100mph and expect it to get round and it’s no different here. I had to go in wide into as I couldn’t use Colin’s line. It was always going to be difficult to get past Colin – he knows all the tricks of the trade – and I thought we had a race-winning car today.” BEN COLLINS: “I'm happy I got points today, but I should have and could have won both races. We've got a new car and a new team, Team Turn Four, who did a good job. I lost it in both pit stops and did the best I could to recover. Most of the team only met for the first time yesterday and you can't expect it to all come together. We should do well next time but there’s a lot of good drivers and experienced teams out there. We’re still new, it will take time." MARK PROCTOR: “I’m over the moon with a third and sixth place today. The car was fantastic in the second race until we had the caution then after that it was as if it had a puncture. We held on until the tyre stop and the car was miles better after that but it was too late to be a factor at the finish.” DAYS OF THUNDER ROUND TWO RESULT
DAYS OF THUNDER POINTS STANDING AFTER ROUND TWO
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