Fife driver Gordon Shedden left his home triple-header in the British Touring Car Championship at Knockhill still 23 points behind the BMW of series leader Colin Turkington.

The lack of a change in the positions at the top of the championship, however, was only part of the story of the day's racing, and the highs and the lows experienced by both.

In the opening race, won by Shedden's Honda Racing team-mate Matt Neal, Turkington was forced to retire when he was pitched into the gravel after contact with Jason Plato's MG.

With Shedden having finished third, the gap in the title race had closed to nine points. The 35-year-old from Dalgety Bay also knew that Turkington would start the second race from 27th on the grid, 24 places behind the Scot.

Misfortune, though, was waiting round the corner for Shedden. At McIntyres, the tight right-hander three corners into the 1.3-mile circuit - and at the same point where Turkington had been spun out in the opening race - Shedden suffered similar contact.

Lying second behind team-mate Neal, Shedden's car was clipped by the Audi of Rob Austin, who had finished second in the opener. Although the Scot was able to stop his Honda entering the gravel, he was left facing the wrong way on the verge and had to wait till the 31-car field had passed.

And while he recovered to finish 12th, his performance was outdone by that of Turkington - the 32-year-old from Portadown coming through from 27th to finish fourth. The race was won by Ford's Mat Jackson.

In the day's final race, won by Turkington's BMW team-mate Rob Collard, the Northern Irishman finished third behind the Ford of Inverness-based Dave Newsham. The Highlander dedicated the podium to his late mum, Dot, who died on Thursday. Shedden, meanwhile, battled through to finish sixth, and the two main title rivals head to Rockingham in a fortnight with all to play for.

"That was a tough day at the office," Shedden said. "From the highs of the opening race to the lows of being punted out in race two … it's what motorsport is all about.

"At the end of the action-packed day, we haven't lost any ground to Colin, and that's the crucial thing. We've three rounds and nine races to go, so from now on it's flat out all the way."