Oxford racing driver Jason Plato, Matt Neal and James Thompson were the winners of Sunday's three Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship rounds at the Croft circuit in North Yorkshire.

Neal, whose win came in his 300th BTCC race, leaves having extended his championship lead to 39 points over young Northern Irish star Colin Turkington, but the day has ended in some controversy.

Reigning champion Neal has lost the third place result he achieved in race three. The BTCC's Clerk of the Course initially reprimanded Neal for overtaking Plato at the final corner by placing all four wheels off the circuit. A subsequent appeal by Plato's SEAT team was then upheld by the BTCC Stewards who judged Neal's actions had gained him an unfair advantage.

He was thus demoted a place to fourth while Plato was elevated to third. That means Plato, third in the championship, has gained five points on Neal in the title race which heads to Donington Park, Leicestershire on July 30.

Team Halfords driver Neal said: "It was just one of those things there was certainly no malice in it. I'm just sorry Jason took it so badly, but I'm not going to get upset about it. I tried but it wasn't to be.

"Overall, I'm really pleased with the way my day has gone. I've still pulled four points on Colin and Jason's only made up five on me. To win in my 300th race was also bit special, but above all we're still well clear at the top of the table.

"Again, my car will go into the next meeting with maximum success ballast and at a place like Donington that could hurt us quite a bit. We won there last year but it was the first round and I think we simply caught the others on the hop. This time I think it'll be a lot harder."

SEAT star Plato, now just five points behind Turkington, said: "We need to be gaining more than that on Matt at each circuit if we're to nick the title off him. Our car is phenomenal around the corners, but as everyone's seen today as the races wear on and the tyres start to lose their grip it turns into a horsepower game and the Hondas have got us licked down the straights.

"On saying that, I think Donington should suit our car it's got lots of medium to fast turns and that's where we can give the others a proper race. There's still a long way to go."

Meanwhile, Thompson, contesting only six of the BTCC's ten meetings due to clashing World Touring Car Championship commitments with SEAT, is now a clear fourth in the championship, still followed by Neal's Team Halfords team-mate Gordon Shedden who displayed great pace at Croft but was out of luck. As a result of his race three demotion, Neal's Team Halfords squad has dropped to second in the Teams' championship, two points behind SEAT Sport UK Team Halfords had been in front by 27 points arriving at Croft.

SEAT has also increased its lead in the Manufacturers' table over Vauxhall from 34 to 77 points. But Neal and Team Halfords have consolidated their respective leads in the Independents Trophy's Drivers' and Teams' standings.