GUISBOROUGH road racer Dennis Hobbs emerged from his first ever British Superbike Championship ride with a dream victory in difficult conditions at Knockhill in Scotland last weekend.

The 20-year-old sales manager, who has been contesting the National Superstock Championship for the past couple of seasons, decided to make the step up into the premier superbike class with the reintroduction of the Privateers' Cup.

He scorched to an amazing class victory on his Hobbs Racing 1000cc Suzuki, backed by Sterling Services, as torrential rain fell at the Fife circuit.

Having missed the opening round of the series due to injuries sustained in a Superstock crash at Thruxton over Easter, Hobbs and his team only finished building the Suzuki on the Friday prior to the meeting.

But, despite his lack of experience in the class, the young racer saw off the challenge of his more experienced rivals to take the Privateers' Cup win after 30 tortuous laps of the tricky 1.3-mile track.

Despite being lapped by race winner and runaway championship leader Shane Byrne on the very last lap, Hobbs posted a respectable 14th place overall after a race-long battle with defending champion Steve Hislop and a number of other works stars.

Race two saw Hobbs looking for a repeat performance and he was in the leading bunch before rain intervened to cut the race short by ten laps, meaning he had to settle for second place in his first ever race on slick tyres.

The results move Hobbs up to fourth in the championship standings and, with seven rounds remaining, he looks a good bet to challenge for honours as the season progresses.

Middlesbrough's Paul Veazey was another rider in action north of the border and another mature ride from the 16-year-old netted him more points on his 125cc Banks GV Honda.

A lowly qualifying position due to the inclement weather meant the youngster was well down the grid, but a spirited ride in difficult and damp conditions saw him work his way through the field to claim seventh place at the end of the 24-lap race.

With his fourth points-scoring ride in succession, Veazey has moved up to 11th in the standings.

Yamaha R6 Cup rider Russ Hodgson kept up his consistent form with his fifth consecutive top ten placing after a spirited ride, also in difficult conditions.

The 21-year-old from Yarm battled throughout the weekend with the predominantly wet conditions, but a low-speed spill during the only timed qualifying session on Saturday meant he had to start from the back of the grid for the 23-lap race.

With visibility virtually zero as he tried to make his way through the pack in the early laps, Hodgson gradually clawed his way up the leaderboard as the track started to dry out. He was seventh at the flag to equal his best result of the season.

The result sees Hodgson move up to joint seventh in the standings, with just one point separating him from the pair of riders in front.

It wasn't such good news for Darlington's Mark Burr, who suffered a big crash during Friday's Supersport practice session which ruled him out of the weekend's action.

Third fastest on the Carbontek Yamaha at the time, Burr's foot slipped off the footrest in the wet conditions, causing him to crash out at high speed and into the barriers at the Hairpin.

Early indications suggested that Burr had a number of injuries, including a broken shoulder, collarbone and wrist, plus some ribs. Thankfully, the X-rays confirmed that no bones had been broken and Burr plans to be fit for the next round at Brands Hatch next month.

The region's other national championship runner, Michael Hill from Stockton, also crashed out early on during Sunday's 125cc race aboard his Taboo Motorsport Honda, while Stanley rider Norman Brunton posted a fifth place finish in the Supersport support race.

Chester le Street's Dave Bell lasted ten laps in the National Superstock race before retiring his Joe Joes Suzuki.

* Defending Scottish rally champion Barry Johnson saw his hopes of retaining his crown virtually disappear when he slid out of contention in round four of the 2003 series.

The Shildon driver, along with co-driver Stewart Merry, was contesting the Garelochhead Coaches Rally based near Loch Lomond and knew nothing short of a win would do to bolster his chances.

Things were going well when they held a 39-second advantage after just two stages, but soon after the start of SS3, the Subaru driver went off into a deep ditch. The time lost in extracting the car was estimated at ten minutes, which dropped the pair way down the order and out of contention.

Meanwhile, Ingleton's Tony Thompson and co-driver Ian Windress from Northallerton continued their good form with a superb 12th position overall on the event.

The pair ended up fifth in the showroom Group N category in their Tidybike Mitsubishi Lancer, seven places ahead of the Subaru of Bishop Auckland pairing Tristan Pye and Chris Thirling, while Thirsk's Ian Rudd and co-driver Dick Wardle ended up 22nd overall in their Ford Cosworth.

* After being harshly penalised for an on-track infringement last time out at Lydden, Northallerton rallycrosser Dave Bellerby plans revenge this weekend as the sport heads to Scotland for the first time in 13 years.

The Vauxhall Nova driver was adjudged to have made contact with another driver at the Kent circuit, but he aims to redress the balance when the fifth round of the ten-event championship takes place at Knockhill.

Bellerby currently lies seventh in the overall championship and third in the Modified class and will be looking for a win north of the border, as will Hartlepool driver Des Wheatley in his Rover Metro.

* An excellent programme of top quality motor racing is the Bank Holiday attraction at Croft circuit this weekend as the British Automobile Racing Club brings some of the best national racing classes to the track.

Headlining the action over the two-day meeting will be the Formula Saloon Championship, featuring the powerful super touring cars as used in the British Touring Car Championship through the Nineties. These will be in action both tomorrow and Sunday.

Local drivers dominate the entry for rounds five and six of the Dunlop National Supersports Championship, notably Maltby-based father and son Paul and Daniel Gibson.

They head the Nemesis pack in the contest for these very quick sports-prototype cars, but Stephen Shanly currently heads the championship in the Chiron. With Durham teenager Jonathan Potts due to make his championship debut and Yarm's Kevin Clifford also in action, there is plenty of interest for local fans.

Mixed sports and saloon car races feature three times on Sunday with races for the Europa Engineering Sports Saloon Championship and the Northern Saloon and Sports Car Championship.

The latter is a regular and popular feature of Croft race meetings and the entry, which is packed with local racers, is so big that two races will be needed to accommodate everyone.

Yarm's Mark Campbell is hot favourite in his Lotus Elan, while Darlington and District Motor Club stalwarts David Cox and Terry Wright will be in action in their respective Hondas.

Northallerton racer Guy Bulmer will be at the wheel of his Ford Escort, with Thirsk's Ian Hepburn (Westfield) and Croft veteran Mick Starkey from Hartlepool (Ford Fiesta) also in action, while 71-year-old Doncaster ace Tony Sugden races his awesome Cosworth turbo-powered Skoda-based GT car in pursuit of yet more success in his last season of racing.

Sunday's full programme is completed by races for the Hill House Hammond Ginetta Championship, the BARC Westfield Sportscar Championship and the Kumho Tyres TVR Car Club Tasmin Series.

Tomorrow, qualifying starts at 9.30, with the first of four races at 4pm.

Action begins on Sunday at 12.10 with a nine-race programme.

Adult admission is £6 tomorrow and £12 on Sunday. Children 15 years and under accompanied by an adult are admitted free.