With a total of 190 drivers set to do battle this weekend, Croft Circuit near Darlington is sure to be one busy place when the Darlington and District Motor Club host their annual race meeting around the 2.127 mile track.

With packed grids being the order of the day, the action is bound to be fast and furious none more so than the Northern Sports and Saloon Car Championship which sees rounds eight and nine out of the ten round series.

Newcastle's Neil Gregory in his Suzuki motorcycle engined Westfield narrowly leads the series overall with dropped scores taken into account but breathing down his neck are the Ford Fiesta of Hartlepool driver Mick Starkey, Yorkshireman Robert Pritchard (Caterham) and Scot Tony Caig in his modified Ford Fiesta, all within two points of the championship leader.

As ever, the mighty Skoda 130RS of 72 year old Doncaster veteran Tony Sugden will be a major threat for class honours as will the Lotus Elan of Yarm's Mark Campbell whilst Darlington duo Terry Wright (Rover 100) and David Cox (Rover Tomcat) will be looking for class victory at their local track also as indeed will be David Bone from Durham in his Westfield and Guisborough's David Pearson (F27 Kawasaki).

The Caterham marque is well represented with Warrington's Charlie Hunt leading the Graduate class whilst the Supergraduate A class sees a close battle for the lead between Welwyn driver Simon Lambert and Jamie Elwood from Leicester. Luton's Andy Bailee leads the B class and with two rounds set to be fought out, all is still to play for.

The Primrose Engineering Monoposto Championship represents the single seater action with Exelby driver Chris Lewis having a rare 2000cc outing in a Van Dieman Scholar. Whitby's John Johnsen drives a Swift Renault and lies second in the 1600cc class behind Whitminster driver Jim Timms whilst other Monoposto championship leaders in action at Croft include the Stroud pairing of Jim Blockley (2000cc) and Geoff Pashley (1800cc), Rob Horsfield from Salisbury (1200cc) and Ibstock's Chris Robinson in the 600cc category.

Two rounds of popular Scottish championships make the trip south of the border with Penicuik's Colin Noble hot favourite to take victory in the Scottish Legends series whilst Stonehaven driver Michael Connor hopes for further success in the Scottish Mini Cooper Challenge Cup.

Qualifying starts at 9.30am on Saturday with the first of eight races commencing at 1.45pm and the host club plans a Barbeque in the evening to mark the social ambience of the weekend before the action gets underway on Sunday from 12.10pm with a ten race programme.

Adult admission is £6 (Saturday) and £12 (Sunday) with children 15 years and under accompanied by an adult admitted free.

l Advance tickets are now on sale for the British Rallycross Grand Prix to be held at Croft over the weekend of October 11 and 12. With interest in the meeting gaining momentum for the second year in succession, drivers from across Europe, including all of the top British drivers will compete for the crown of Grand Prix champion over the weekend which also hosts the Internations Cup.

Pre-booking Saturday's action will cost just £10 with an advance ticket for Sunday costing £14. A weekend saver costs just £19 per adult and all need to be ordered before September 29th. Accompanied children under 15 are admitted free and more details are available from the ticket hotline on 01325 721815.