MATT Neal, Britain's new Independent champion, finally made good the promise of virtually every race this season, by driving the race of his life, and winning outright round 19 of the AutoTrader British Touring Car Championship.

It is only the second time that an Independent driver has won a race outright in the Super Touring years, both of the wins going to the popular West Midlander.

This time the Pershore-based Team Dynamics Max Power Nissan Primera won it the tough way by battling up from third on the grid and passing Le Mans winner Tom Kristensen in his Honda after a tense battle, holding on to the lead, despite a falling gearbox, and the close and increasingly frantic attentions of the flying Dane.

"At last, that one took some winning, but the feeling is wonderful," Neal reflected.

"It only really sinks in when you see all the smiling faces around the track, and the fans shouting for you. It was absolutely brilliant."

"I thought at the start that we could do something but when I saw Kristensen come up after a demon start and championship leader Anthony Reid get bogged down at the start I had almost settled for a safe podium finish.

"But I found I could live with Tom and we were not losing ground to race leader Rickard Rydell either."

One of the class B cars blew up, and left a trail of oil through Surtees. Rickard went off and Neal and Kristensen got through, with Neal in second.

"A couple of laps later when we came up on Group B leader Richard Kaye at Surtees the Honda got held up and I dived down the inside and grabbed the lead," Neal recalled.

"When you are as hungry as I am for a win you don't wait for a second invitation".

"This one has been a long time coming, we knew the Nissan was competitive and we have been so close so many times, but the victory is very sweet.

"Everyone thinks we are the underdogs in this series That makes the win very special, not just for me but for the team, our sponsors and partners and for all our fans."

After all the adulation and celebrations it was back to earth with a bang in the feature race 50-lapper.

Conditions were distinctly different and the typical summer rain meant the track was quite tricky, all of which meant that the lowly eighth place grid position was going to be hard work.

The first corner sorted it further when the Nissan went into the gravel trap alongside Radermaker's Vauxhall and broke the front splitter, giving some real bad understeer and putting Neal back in ninth.

It was a day for the spinners in the rain though and a late pit stop was taken to change to slicks to try and make up some places.

With 15 laps remaining the Nissan had pulled back to sixth but the understeer got worse, and, in the scramble to the flag, Neal fell back to ninth again.

"We are getting stronger with every round and after the great win we cannot wait for Oulton Park in two weeks time," Neal declared. "We might not win, but I don't think we will be far off the pace and. with a bit of luck. a second win is not out of the question."