VAUXHALL'S charge towards the 2003 British Touring Car championship was halted at Croft yesterday with a win apiece for Honda and MG.

Matt Neal took victory in round 11 and Anthony Reid enjoyed the first win for the green and black cars in round 12.

But with two second places Vauxhall's James Thompson revitalised the race for the driver's championship, while the Yorkshireman's teammates Yvan Muller and Paul O'Neill both chalked up third places to keep the chasing pack at bay.

In race one Thompson, in what he later admitted was a poor start from pole position, allowed the Hondas of Neal and Alan Morrison through.

But as the pack threw itself through Clervaux there was contact behind the leading three.

Squeezed on to the grass O'Neill tried to avoid championship leader Muller, but unsettled by the kerbs, his car swayed hard to the left barging the Frenchman into the tyres and out of the race.

Thompson saw the incident in his mirrors and knew the man most likely to wrest the driver's crown from him was no longer a contender - so he set about trying to take further advantage on the restart from a short safety car period.

But in the end it was another bit of champion's luck which got him past Morrison.

A lap after rejoining from his pitstop the wheels came off the Honda driver's race - quite literally.

Further down the field Sunderland's Warren Hughes found himself having to fend off a teammate yet again.

Three weeks ago at Rockingham a battle with Scot Anthony Reid ended in controversy when there was heavy contact between the two in the closing stages.

But, this time, Hughes was swapping eighth place with Colin Turkington when he was suddenly confronted by a slowing Dan Eaves and had to lift off the accelerator to avoid him.

Hughes lost control of his MG as a result and ended up in a cloud of dust deep in a cornfield at the Jim Clark Esses.

So it was Neal who took the win for Honda after staving off Thompson after another safety car period in the closing stages - prompted by a stray bollard dragged on to the track by an impressive Eaves who claimed a win in the Independence Cup.

Production class winner in race one was Tom Boardman - perhaps proving a point after his disqualification at Rockingham three weeks ago.

Neal also led into the first corner in race two, but with success ballast on board it soon became clear he would struggle to stay there.

Indeed, the race was only five laps old when Reid made a bold play up the inside at Tower.

Thompson was also passed before the end of the lap, but the man on the move was Muller, charging through from 16th on the grid to sixth.

Having made short work of O'Neill and the Honda of Morrison, he was now on Neal's tail and fans were about to be treated to the kind of manoeuvre the Frenchman has made his trademark.

Taking a tighter line out of the hairpin into the start finish straight, Muller eased his way alongside Neal and both hurtled towards Clervaux wheel to wheel.

Muller braked first, but Neal was so late on his he drifted wide on the exit of the corner.

There was a only a fraction of a second to react, but it was enough for Muller to jink to his right and squeeze into the gap, forcing Neal to take the slower line through the chicane.

Some of Muller's Gallic flair was wasted in the pitstops when confusion with the hydraulic jacks wasted him time.

But he managed to battle his way back to third in a race which could yet prove a defining moment in the championship.

Rob Collard took the Independence victory while Luke Hines chalked up another win in the production class.

But for Warren Hughes, who finished tenth after his MG sustained damage in a first corner incident, Croft was a weekend to forget and move on.

"It's great the team took a win with Anthony today and we certainly have a winning set up.

"All I can do now is look forward to the next races," he said.