PAUL Veazey, the 14-year-old Middlesbrough starlet, continued his tremendous form when he stormed to yet another victory in the Aprilia RS125 Challenge at Silverstone last weekend.

Riding the TJW sponsored Aprilia, Veazey qualified in pole position on his first ever visit to the famous Northamptonshire track, which later this year hosts the British Formula One Grand Prix. And the youngster quickly adapted to the wide open and flat out sweeps of the club circuit.

In the first of the two Aprilia Challenge races, Paul failed to get his traditional good start and ended up in a five-rider dice for second place as championship leader Cal Crutchlow started to edge clear in the early stages of the race.

Aware that he couldn't let his main rival get too far ahead, Veazey quickly disposed of the challengers around him and set about the task of chasing Crutchlow, who held a three-second lead.

The youngster - son of former Auto 66 Club champion Gary - gradually clawed back the deficit until he caught his 15-year-old counterpart and proceeded to take the lead on lap seven.

From then on, Veazey gradually increased his advantage to win by three seconds and close the gap between him and Crutchlow going into the second race of the day.

The second race of the day was once again susceptible to rain and with very limited experience in the damp conditions, Veazey had to play second fiddle to Crutchlow, who took an easy victory.

But in a battling performance, he enjoyed a race-long dice for second place with another of his major rivals, Sam Fleetwood, who ended up crashing out as Veazey kept up the pressure to take a deserved runner-up spot.

With a win and a second place each, Crutchlow maintained his six-point gap over Veazey at the head of the championship, but these two are now starting to pull well clear of the chasing pack as the championship heads for Oulton Park in Cheshire this weekend.

Also in action this weekend will be the region's British Championship contenders as round two of the British Superbike Championship and support races takes place on Easter Monday at Silverstone.

Darlington's Mark Burr will be looking to put the disappointment of two retirements in the opening two races at Donington Park behind him when he takes to the grid on the Hawk Racing Kawasaki in the two feature races, while Dennis Hobbs from Guisborough will be aiming to improve on his 13th place aboard the SMR Honda in the Supersport race.

Also in action will be Hutton Rudby's Russ Hodgson, who managed a point aboard the 125cc Castle Eden Breweries backed Tillston's Honda at Donington, while Ingleby Barwick rider Dave Gatenby (Joe Joe's 250cc Honda) and James Brackenbury from Leyburn (Scott Leathers Yamaha) will be hoping for better fortune having both retired last time out.

l For the first time in the event's history, the Scottish Rally Championship has been cancelled in its entirety for 2001 because of the foot-and-mouth epidemic.

Local competitors Barry Johnson (Shildon) and Tony Bardy (Scotch Corner) had planned to contest the series, despite both encountering problems on the opening round in February before the disease escalated.

With another two events lost and no sign of the crisis easing, the organisers had no option but to cancel the series and now plan to invest time and money into the 2002 championship.

Also falling victim to the outbreak is the opening round of the British Rally Championship, the Rally of Wales, which has now been cancelled after being postponed temporarily.

Round two of the series was due to take place in Kielder Forest at the end of this month, but this has also been postponed and the third round, the Scottish Rally, which was scheduled for June, is also in serious doubt.

Organisers still hope to run two of the regions BTRDA rallies after postponing them earlier. The Malcolm Wilson Rally based in the Lake District has been rescheduled for May 12, although this is expected to be postponed again, while the North Humberside Rally is due to run in the Yorkshire forests in mid July and stands a marginally better chance.

Despite the lack of action, one of the area's leading rally drivers, Anth Eaton, who own Autotest garage in Northallerton, remained sympathetic to the cause.

He said: "I don't think there'll be any forest rallying until Christmas and it's only right we stay away until the situation improves.

"My business is also suffering because of this and I estimate I'm around 20pc down, but it's not a patch on some of the farmers, many of whom are my friends and customers, who've lost everything. I just hope it improves soon."