Craig Rainer has moved five points clear in the Ford Saloon Car Championship with three races to go.

The Crawley Down racer has an almost unbeatable lead in class B and also looks like claiming overall honours for the first time.

His seventh class win of the season came at Brands Hatch last Sunday and the Wealden Racing Team are hoping Rainer can move a step closer to landing the title at Mallory Park tomorrow.

It was also a good weekend at Brands Hatch for Hove's Mike Webb, who finished sixth overall and fourth in class.

Rainer, in his RS2000 MKII Escort, qualified first in class and third overall on the second row of the grid.

At the start of the race he immediately took second place from the class A Escort Cosworth of Brian O'Connor and held this position for the first lap until O'Connor overtook him coming out of Driuds Hairpin.

An incident involving a rival class B car spinning at Paddock Hill bend caused the race to run under black and yellow flags for a while with a 50mph limit. When they were given the green flag to race again, Rainer had to fight to keep his third place from another class B driver, Paul Neville.

On lap ten the lead car of Graham Wait (class A) lost a wheel, which moved Rainer up to second, a position which he held until the end of the race.

With another fastest lap and pole position in class qualifying, Rainer took maximum points for the round. Webb had qualified sixth overall and third in class and a battle developed when the race got under way.

Until lap nine, Webb held fifth place overall but a tyre problem left him struggling for grip and his race became one of fending off cars behind him. He did this well, finishing sixth overall and fourth in class.