NORTHALLERTON motorcycle racer Phil Stead made the long trip to Castle Combe near Bristol to compete in the ACU 250cc British Championship and after a difficult weekend, he emerged with a podium finish on his Langver, JT Atkinson and NYRRSC-backed Yamaha TZ 250.

It didn’t start to well for Stead when he clattered a corner marker in the very first practice session which necessitated a trip to the medical centre before being sent off to the local hospital for a precautionary x-Ray on his injured leg which came back all clear.

A fourth place finish later on Saturday was followed with a similar result on Sunday but only after the team had worked into the early hours of Sunday to fix a sick engine. But all proved worthwhile when Phil battled to third position in the feature race, aboard his near-30-year-old bike against much more modern opposition, to claim a podium and with it, victory in the supporting NG250 Cup.

THE classic Lake District forest of Greystoke near Penrith was the venue for last weekend’s Legend Fires Greystoke Stages Rally whereby there was plenty of success for the majority of competitors from the region.

Despite no less than 15 crews making the trip over the A66, the only ones who could muster a class win were Hamsterley driver David Coatsworth and Pickhill co-driver Chris Pattison who emerged 30th overall in their 1400cc MG ZR but taking a superb class win in the process.

Ripon driver Matthew Robinson and co-driver Sam Collis took their Fiat 131S to sixth overall and second in class with the Ford Escort Mk2 of Boroughbridge’s Tom Hewick and Pickhill co-driver Mick Johnson finishing 11th overall and fourth in class. Local crews then packed out the lower leaderboard placings starting with Thirlby’s Ben Cree and Durham co-driver Andy Brown who brought their Peugeot 205 home in 21st overall and fifth in class.

Next up in 22nd overall and ninth in class was comeback driver Nige Keen from West Rounton, ably assisted by Mickleton co-driver Tony Walker in their Ford Escort Mk2 with the Ford RS2000 of South Kilvington driver Nick Kitching and co-driver Andrew Trollope taking 23rd overall and tenth in class.

25th went the way of Northallerton’s Darren Grimston who was sharing his newly-acquired Ford Escort Mk2 with Richard Ross as usual and they took 12th in class whilst one place further behind both overall and in class was the similar car in which Pickhill’s Kari Bates was guiding Graham Haigh.

Northallerton’s John Tillett and co-driver Guy Kirby claimed 29th overall and 14th in class in their Ford Escort Mk2, three places ahead of Northallerton duo Kevin Franks and Craig Walley who were making their gravel debut in their Ford Escort and ended up 16th in class for good measure. Northallerton brothers Andrew and Richard Chandler finished 37th overall and second in class in their Ford Escort with Wensleydale’s Mike Percival and Rob Foster taking their Vauxhall Corsa to 38th overall and tenth in class.

Sadly for the Bedale duo of Shaun Wilson and Errol Bairstow, they retired their Subaru with an electrical fire after SS3 whilst the same stage claimed Pickhill’s Bruce Lindsay, who was co-driving for Jan Budge, and they went out with head gasket failure.

Meanwhile down in Wales, County Durham pair Stephen Petch and Michael Wilkinson claimed third overall in their Ford Fiesta WRC on the Nicky Grist Stages Rally with Kepwick businessman Peter Stephenson, along with co-driver Will Rogers, taking sixth in their Subaru WRC.

REDCAR SG Petch Bears saw their recent winning streak come to an end when they suffered defeat to the Peterborough Panthers last week.

With the track staff working wonders to get it ready after torrential rain, the Bears were out of luck on track as a combination of mechanic problems and injuries to two key riders, Charles Wright and Danny Ayres, saw them lose out with the final score ending up 40-52 to the Panthers.

WORLD Championship racing brothers Sam and Alex Lowes will be the special guests at the North Yorkshire Road Racing Supporters Club chat show at the Golden Lion Hotel in Northallerton this forthcoming Tuesday evening (18th July)

With Sam racing in MotoGP and Alex in World Superbikes, it’s bound to be an excellent evening hosted by Eurosport presenter Matt Roberts. Tickets are available on the door on the night costing just £10 (£7 for members) and for further information, please visit www.nyrrsc.net