THE Green Flag MSA British Touring Car Championship series makes its sole visit to Croft for rounds 11 and 12 this weekend and, with just one point separating current championship leader Matt Neal in his Egg Sport Vauxhall Astra Coup from popular Yorkshireman James Thompson for Vauxhall Motorsport, the title race couldn't be closer.

Last year's runner-up, Frenchman Yvan Muller - who got his season back on track last time out with an emphatic feature race win at Mondello Park in Ireland - is champing at the bit in third, closely followed by the MG Sport and Racing Team driver Anthony Reid, the only non-Vauxhall race winner this year.

Muller's sparring partner in the Vauxhall Motorsport camp is local driver Thompson, from York, but the Astra driver suffered several mechanical dramas early in the season. As a result, he went over his permitted engine allocation at Mondello Park, losing five championship points and handing the lead to Neal.

The action gets underway tomorrow at 9.30 and on Sunday the day starts with the pit lane walkabout and the Dave Coates stunt show at 10.30, with racing from noon.

Adult admission is £10 tomorrow and £20 on Sunday, with accompanied children under 15 admitted free. Weekend saver tickets are available at a cost of £25 per adult and free children's entertainment will be provided on Sunday.

For further details call the Croft circuit ticket hotline on 01325 721815.

l Despite changeable weather conditions, local racers came away with a decent points haul when the latest round of the British Superbike Championship visited Knockhill in Scotland last weekend.

Best result went the way of 21-year-old Yarm rider Russ Hodgson, who finished in a battling seventh place aboard his 125cc Cameron's Castle Eden Honda in the 125cc GP encounter.

Hodgson overcame a crash in qualifying to end up on row three of the grid, before battling his way through the order to claim another top ten finish at the end of 24 laps. The result consolidates his ninth position in the standings.

Fellow 125cc racer Paul Veazey, from Middlesbrough, started from the same row as his Teesside counterpart and the 16-year-old battled with former Grand Prix racer Steve Patrickson for much of the race, eventually ending up in 12th place. Veazey lies in 15th place in the championship with five races to go.

Guisborough's Dennis Hobbs made a return to action after missing a couple of races through illness and he too ended up inside the top ten of the Superstock race.

The 20-year-old, debuting a Suzuki for Max Maud's Sterling Services team, qualified on row four of the grid, but gambled on dry tyres for the race just as the rain started falling.

Hobbs managed to slither round to claim a creditable tenth place at the flag and score his first points since Donington Park back in April.

Superbike star Mark Burr's excellent run continued when he out-qualified defending champion John Reynolds to start both legs from row three.

The 21-year-old from Darlington was running inside the top ten in the opening 30-lap race when oil from a machine he was following found its way onto his Hawk Kawasaki's brakes, dropping him back to 14th at the flag.

In the second outing, Burr was again showing well and ended up in 13th to make it five points-scoring rides in his last six races.

* Spanish Moto GP star Carlos Checa proved a massive hit when another bumper crowd turned out to welcome the Marlboro Yamaha rider to the NYRRSC chat show at Elders Bar in Northallerton on Tuesday evening.

The night raised more than £1,500, which will be donated to local racers over the forthcoming season.

Noticeable sales in the auction were a pair of VIP passes for this weekend's British Grand Prix at Donington, which fetched £350, and Checa's signed team shirt, which sold for £80.

The next show takes place a week on Tuesday when the Honda Night With The Stars heads for Club Amadeus in Northallerton, with former world champion Colin Edwards topping the bill.

l The only rally on the UK mainland to use closed public roads gets underway later today when the fourth round of the Pirelli British Rally Championship heads for Northumberland and the Jim Clark Memorial Rally.

Based in Edinburgh, local crews will be out in force on the 470-mile event, including the Ford Junior Rallye Team of Heighington's Guy Wilks and David Henderson, from Sacriston.

Wilks currently lies second in the Super 1600cc championship, but tarmac specialist Henderson, a former track racer, is sure to figure well in his identical MSR-prepared Ford Puma.

Castleton driver Ryan Champion has a clean sweep of victories to date in the Ferodo Ford Puma 1400cc championship and he and Northallerton co-driver Ian Windress, last year's series champion, will be looking to make it four out of four.

Champion's mother Joyce currently leads the VW Polo Challenge with driver Sophie Robinson.

The Autosport Ford Ka series also has a host of local drivers, including Scorton's Stephen Petch, Tristan Pye from Bishop Auckland and Lanchester driver Trevor Gamble, while Shildon-based Barry Johnson will be looking to continue his good run in his Subaru WRC in the International event.

Thimbleby's David Brown (Puma Cosworth) and Ian Rudd from Thirsk (Ford Sapphire) contest the event in the National class.

The action starts at 1pm today and 5.30am tomorrow, with the majority of stages around the Duns area.