SCOTTON sidecar racer Greg Lambert rounded off a hectic week by claiming his first rostrum of the season with a superb runner-up placing in round three of the Eastern Airways Sidecar Championship held at Silverstone last weekend.

Lambert dashed back from the Isle of Man TT races, where he took fifth and sixth place finishes from the two races, to put his Dalepak Suzuki on the podium.

He followed up with a fifth place in round four, held in front of 68,000 fans at the Northants track as part of the World Superbike Championship weekend.

The display from Lambert and passenger James Sirrell convinced the race commentary team to nominate the pairing for the Wrangler Footwear team of the meeting award.

Lambert said: "It's a great finish to a good weekend and a good couple of weeks.

"I was tired after the Isle of Man TT, but that seemed to help me find a rhythm in the Silverstone races and I felt confident.

"Overall, I'm really pleased with our progress with the new Suzuki machine. I'm going a lot better than I thought I would by this stage of the season."

Both races were won by nine-times world champion Steve Webster, from Easingwold, who, along with passenger Paul Woodhead, now holds a 34-point advantage going into the next two rounds at Croft next weekend.

Eastern Airways Sidecar Championship points after four rounds: 1 Steve Webster (Suzuki) 95; 2 Derek Brindley (Suzuki) and Tim Reeves (Suzuki) 61; 4 Greg Lambert (Suzuki) 57; 5 Bill Philp (Yamaha) 43; 6 Richard Gatt (Suzuki) 32; 7 Bryan Pedder (Suzuki) 28; 8 Stuart Woodard (Yamaha) 22; 9 Chris Founds (Yamaha) 21; 10 Jrg Steinhausen (Suzuki) 20.

* Dealer Team Suzuki driver Guy Wilks continued his good form by dominating the Super 1600 class as he stormed to a class victory in the RSAC Scottish Rally last weekend.

The 23-year-old from Heighington, along with Welsh co-driver Phil Pugh, also finished a tremendous fourth overall. The pair won nine of the ten special stages in the Super 1600 class to finish nearly a minute and a half ahead of their nearest rival.

After the disappointment of retiring from his local event in Keilder Forest earlier in the season, the result pushed Wilks up into second place in the Kwik-Fit Pirelli British Super 1600 Championship following his maximum score in the previous round in Wales.

"I'm absolutely delighted to secure another maximum points and feel on top of the world at the moment. The car was superb throughout, except for a slow puncture on stage six, which lost us just a few seconds," said Wilks, who won the JRWC round in Greece the previous weekend.

He added: "The last ten days have been very tiring, but have given me such big rewards with victories in both Scotland and Greece. I can't wait for the next rally."

Wilks and Pugh now head for Turkey and the Junior World Rally Championship next weekend, with the next British event being the Jim Clark Rally just one week later.

Meanwhile, fellow County Durham resident Barry Johnson was also in good form on the event, claiming third place overall to record his best BRC finish of the season.

Driving the Barrier Surveillance Subaru WRC with co-driver Stewart Merry on the notes, Johnson had to settle for eighth overnight after the three Friday night stages around the forests near Dumfries.

A spin and a stall on the opening stage on Saturday morning didn't help their cause, but they gradually clawed their way back into contention thanks to a stunning time on the sixth stage which gained them three places on the leaderboard.

Despite a puncture on SS7 and problems with dust, the pair held on to third until the finish to make the rostrum.

Just for good measure, Johnson stayed over in Scotland on the Saturday evening in order to contest the next round of the Scottish Rally Championship and the 2002 champion again came away with some silverware after claiming second place overall.

Johnson battled all day long with series leader Raymond Munro from Inverness, with only a handful of seconds separating them throughout the event, but the Shildon driver had to concede defeat eventually by 18 seconds.

John Pye Motorsport team-mates Tristan Pye and Roger Herron were also in action on the same event, finishing 11th overall and third in class in their Subaru Impreza.

* There will no less than 15 drivers from the North-East, Cumbria and Yorkshire bidding for home round honours when the MSA British Rallycross Championship visits Croft circuit on Sunday.

Father and son pairing John and David Binks, from Gosforth, are sponsoring the event through their Bedlington-based JBT Waste Services company as well as competing.

John Binks is enjoying his most successful season to date and has won the Minicross category in all four events run so far this year. He is joint leader of the overall championship and has a 35-point lead in the Minicross class, in which York-based Mark Griffin is the only other northern driver.

David Binks' year has not gone so smoothly, but took a positive turn in round four of the championship at Knockhill last month. He claimed a personal best third place with his new BMW Mini, which he drives in the Super Modified class.

Matching John Binks' unbeaten run through the first four events and sharing the overall lead in the BRDA Championship is Stock Hatch class leader Adrian Horsley, from Redcar.

Driving a Citroen Saxo VTR, Horsley has built a 40-point lead over his closest rival, Sussex-based Julian Godfrey, and goes to Croft intent on maintaining his winning streak.

Also in the Stock Hatch category are Ian Horn, from Great Ayton, who races a Vauxhall Nova Gsi, and former rally driver Tony Saddington, from Yarm, who has returned to competition this year after a break of almost a decade and drives a Peugeot 205 GTi.

The only locally-based racer appearing in the British championship's top flight Supercar category is Ferryhill-based Tony Bell. Following a 2003 season which was cut short by engine problems in his Toyota Corolla WRC, Bell has chosen his local round of the MSA British Rallycross Championship in which to open his 2004 season.

Little Langton driver Dave Bellerby is set to make an amazing return to the championship just ten weeks after breaking his right arm and leg in a big crash during the third round at Lydden in Kent.

Recovering from the accident faster than expected and with his 2.0-litre Vauxhall Nova GSi due to be race ready, Bellerby is keen to rejoin the championship at his local event.

Des Wheatley, from Hartlepool, is another driver who has been out of action recently, although his absence from rounds three and four was the result of a major engine failure in round two.

With a brand new 2.0-litre engine due to be installed in his lightweight Rover Metro for this weekend's event, Wheatley is another keen to make up lost ground in the championship battle.

Drivers of Minis or any model of Lotus can benefit from a special ticket offer at Croft this weekend as the British Rallycross Drivers Association and Croft circuit have teamed up to offer drivers arriving at the event in those particular types of car one free adult admission ticket for each similar ticket bought.

Standard admission is £12 per adult with accompanied children under 15 admitted free. The action starts at noon.