Darlington driver Paul Swift leads a team of the region's best Autotest drivers as they challenge for glory in the inter association event in North Wales this weekend.

Son of world-renowned competition and exhibition driver Russ Swift, the 22-year-old has been competing since the age of seven and has several major accolades to his credit.

They include the Local Autotest Championship in 1998 and the National Junior Autotest Championship in 1999, as well as the Small Saloon National Autotest Championship in 2000. He finished an impressive fourth overall in his Mini Special last year.

Swift heads to the Wrexham event alongside his A team colleagues, which include Richard Pinkney from Crook in his MG and Newcastle's Carl Sams driving a Mini.

The B team is an all-Darlington line-up and will see the Silva Stryka in the hands of John Waller joining Mark Thornton's Mini and Lee Addison in a Vauxhall Nova.

Prior to the team event on Sunday, Swift will be hoping to improve his chances in the penultimate round of the British Championship, which takes place tomorrow.

He is currently in joint second place, just two points behind the leader, and needs to win the final two events to be guaranteed the crown.

* BAR Formula One test driver Darren Manning won his first ASCAR race at EuroSpeedway Lausitz on Sunday afternoon as a thunderstorm interrupted the third leg of the ASCAR 300.

Knaresborough-born Manning celebrated his win after the race was red-flagged due to a torrential downpour at the German track. The race order on lap 24 was declared the official result as the thunder and lightning replaced the roar of V8 Chevrolet engines.

Despite some controversy, the result was a good one for the Harrogate-based Bintcliffe Sport, with Manning and team-mate Jason Plato coming up with the team's best finish so far this season.

* Northallerton motorcycle racer Darren Grimston had a busy weekend of action aboard his newly-acquired Electrocare Total Butler Yamaha R1 last weekend.

The shop owner had been out of action since substantially damaging his Honda Hornet earlier in the year, but after a test at Snetterton in Norfolk a couple of weeks ago, he was hoping for success on the 1000cc machine when he travelled to Oulton Park last Saturday.

However, a combination of wet weather tyres and a drying track led to his retirement in the first race, before posting a top 20 position in the Champion of Oulton race. But any hopes of an improvement were dashed when the final race of the day was cancelled due to deteriorating conditions.

There was better news for Grimston on Sunday, when he ventured to the Auto 66 Club Championship meeting at Elvington Park, near York. He came away with a hat-trick of sixth places in the competitive 1300cc open class before taking an eighth place in the Streetbike event to round off a successful day.

* Young Bishop Auckland rider Barry Burrell ventured to Thruxton in Hampshire for the most recent round of the Aprilia RS 125cc Superteen Championship, but it proved to be one of his less fruitful meetings.

The 16-year-old finished seventh in the opening race around the ultra-fast ex-airfield circuit, but crashed out in a first-lap melee with a host of other riders in the second leg to leave his championship chances hanging by a thread going into the final few rounds.

l After a six-week break, Scorton rally driver Steve Petch and his Northallerton co-driver John Richardson blew off the cobwebs with an impressive fourth place overall on the Port Talbot National Rally last weekend, which formed round five of the Kumho Tyres National Rally Championship.

With improvements to their Hyundai UK-supported Accent WRC effected during their break, the pair came home just 17 seconds behind the third-placed crew, but managed to secure third in class after a tough day around the forests of South Wales.

Ripon's Charlie Payne and co-driver Craig Thorley from York had to retire their MSR Mitsubishi with a broken cross member on stage five.

Meanwhile, the New Pig Scottish Rally Championship enters its final phase tomorrow when Perth hosts round six of the series, the Colin McRae Forest Stages GHI Rally.

With just three of the eight rounds remaining, and with five different winners in the opening five rounds, the title race is wide open.

Just 20 points cover the top five drivers and, with 30 points available to the winner of each of the closing three rallies, championship leader Barry Johnson from Shildon knows he must maintain his run of maximum scores in his Barrier Subaru Impreza if he is to fend off the challenge of the chasing pack.

BTRDA front-runners Mark Constantine from Richmond and Great Broughton's Jonny Brown will be battling it out for honours in their respective Vauxhall Nova's when round seven of the series takes place with the Quinton Rally in mid-Wales tomorrow.

l A packed ten-race afternoon at Croft on Sunday promises a great spectacle as the British Automobile Racing Club brings some of the best national racing classes to the North Yorkshire track, including the stunning Pirelli Maranello Ferrari Challenge.

Leslie Charneca (Harrogate) and John Swift (Selby) fly the Yorkshire flag in the class, while the Formula Saloon Car Championship features a host of ex-BTCC super touring cars.

The Europa Engineering Sports Saloon Championship also makes a rare visit to Croft and excellent single-seater action will come from a double header round of the BARC Formula Renault Championship. Leading runners include York's Jeremy Smith and Nicky Wilson, while Stockton's Alex Bates is the local hero.

The P&O Portsmouth MG Owners' Club Championship is featured in one of four races tomorrow, when qualifying starts at 9.30. The first of the four races is at 3.30. On Sunday, the first race is at 12.10.

Adult admission is £5 tomorrow and £10 on Sunday, with accompanied children aged 15 and under admitted free