JONATHAN Harrison has seen his championship aspirations receive a welcome boost from across the Atlantic courtesy of the owner of the company whose motorcycle he races.

The 22-year-old and his Darlington-based Adrenalin-Moto team are the only competitors to be racing a radical Buell Firebolt in the UK this season and, following a number of successes earlier in the season, the Darlington racer is in command of the Auto 66 Club Sound of Thunder Championship.

But unbeknown to them, Mr Erik Buell, founder of the Milwaukee company which is a subsidiary of the famous Harley Davidson brand, has been keeping an eye on their progress and recently stepped in to help when a gearbox problem threatened to halt Harrison's season.

The team, run by Adrenalin-Moto owners Matt and Debbie Purdy, who specialise in Buell motorcycle parts and accessories and sell them around the world via the internet, suffered mechanical problems at a recent race in the championship.

Upon stripping the offending parts, it soon became clear that a radical overhaul would be needed and, with time short before the next round, their participation was in jeopardy.

Desperate not to lose out on the championship they had worked so hard for all year, the team sent an e-mail to the Buell factory in the United States to let them know the situation as they had been in touch with them before for advice.

Within an hour they had a reply and the factory's advice told the team that they needed a new engine, and fast!

With the latest XB12 version now available, the factory, upon the instructions of Mr Buell himself, agreed to send the team a new 1200cc engine and ancillaries by overnight delivery from Wisconsin to County Durham.

With less than two days before the race, Mr Buell personally supervised the transportation, shipping and customs requirements of the new engine which arrived at Manchester Airport the day before.

A courier delivered the engine to the team's workshops the same day and the team set about fitting the new power unit at 4pm in readiness for the following day's race.

A couple of trips up and down the A1 to spares suppliers Just Harleys in Newcastle meant the team eventually sourced all the parts needed and they spent until the early hours of Sunday morning fitting the new engine into the modified frame.

With just a few hours sleep, the team headed off for Elvington Park near York where Harrison managed to squeeze in three practice sessions to get used to the different engine characteristics.

The first two races were five-lap sprints for vital championship points, meaning Harrison had the double task of scoring points whilst still taking things relatively easily.

Race one saw Harrison slot into fifth place before charging up to third at the flag and he followed that up with a fourth place in race two. An added bonus for the team saw their main championship rival fail to score any points and Harrison extended his lead as a result.

"We had a very successful day's racing, made possible by the fantastic support from Erik and his team at East Troy. My confidence is now sky high and we are really pleased with the reliability and power straight from the box.

"We are sure that as the engine loosens up and we get to try some go faster bits, the performance can only get even better, and who knows where that will take us," enthused Harrison, who, if he lifts the title, would become the first Buell rider to win a championship outside the United States.

Harrison's cause was also aided last weekend when the subsequent round of the championship took place at Carnaby Two near Beverley. The team had improved the machine considerably and, despite increased opposition, Harrison posted a pair of third places to maintain his championship challenge.

With just four rounds to go, he enjoys a 14-point advantage over his nearest rival, but still has a 'joker' to play which means he can score double points at one of the remaining rounds.

* An impressive total of 12 TVRs from all over the country amassed at Harewood near Leeds last weekend for the latest round of the TVR Speed Championship.

It proved to be an excellent day of very close competition with the top five cars separated by just 1.5 seconds.

Local interest centred around Moulton solicitor Simon Cole, who held on to second place in the early stages behind eventual class winner Robin Harris from London in a very quick five-litre Griffith.

Despite his elderly 4.6-litre 350i, prepared and maintained by Henry Baier of Brompton, Cole did magnificently to hold on to the position ahead of more powerful and modern machinery.

However, on the last timed run of the day, Cole was demoted to third place by Matthew Oakley from Hereford in his 5.2-litre Griffith, who managed to better his time of 68.93sec by just 0.18sec.

Fellow Moulton resident Peter Herbert was unable to quite get on terms with the 1300 cc motorcycle-engined Sylva Stryker, but still took second place in class in the modified car class.

l Guisborough road racer Dennis Hobbs got back to winning ways at Cadwell Park on Monday with another superb double victory to move to within just two points of the lead in the British Superbike Championship Privateers' Cup.

Riding the Sterling Services-backed Hobbs Racing Suzuki, the 21-year-old overcame an off track excursion in the opening race to bounce back and take a comfortable win before making no mistakes in the second leg to record yet another double for the season.

The end result means that the championship is now between Hobbs and his Aylesbury rival Dave Wood with just four races left, the next being at Brands Hatch in Kent in two weeks time.

Also in action at Cadwell in front of a record 36,500 crowd were a number of the region's other top racers, including Russ Hodgson in the Yamaha R6 Cup.

The 23-year-old from Hutton Rudby qualified on row three of the grid, but was soon mixing it among the front runners aboard the Alan Haywood Racing machine, eventually posting an impressive sixth at the flag.

Darlington's Mark Burr was having his first outing in the Superbike class this season and promptly made an impression aboard the 1000cc Carbontek Suzuki.

Despite racing with a broken hand, Burr qualified impressively and was running with the leading Privateers when he slid off on oil during race one. Race two saw him battle against the pain barrier to claim an impressive fifth place in the Privateers' Cup.

Middlesbrough teenager Paul Veazey was hopeful of a good result in the double-header 125cc championship, but it turned out to be a weekend to forget for the 17-year-old Banks GV Honda rider.

Having got tangled up in a first-lap incident in the opening race, Veazey bounced back from dead last to claim a valiant 14th at the flag, but worse was to follow in race two.

Having battled his way into the leading pack, Veazey was poised to challenge for the lead in the closing laps when he crashed out and was run over by another rider, causing the race to be stopped. Veazey suffered a suspected broken wrist which could rule him out of the final two races.

There was better news for Eaglescliffe rider Andy Bennett, who followed up a fifth place in Sunday's Pro Bike Open support race with a second in Monday's outing aboard his 1000cc Suzuki. Brother Tony, from Middlesbrough, scored a best result of 15th in the same class over the weekend.

l After nearly three years of trying, Scorton youngster Stephen Petch and his Tow Law co-driver Mike Wilkinson finally won a round of the Ford Ka Championship with a stunning performance on the Mewla Rally last weekend.

After a number of problems this season, the pair have at last started to enjoy some good fortune and, after their recent class win on the Swansea Bay Rally, they set fastest times on stages three and four before holding off a concerted effort from series leader Jonnie Wigmore.

* Northallerton rallycrosser Dave Bellerby maintained his championship challenge with a concerted effort at Lydden Hill in Kent during round seven of the ten-round series over the bank holiday.

Bellerby followed home the Vauxhall Corsa of Gordon Rogers in the Modified final before placing his Nova fifth in the all-important Superfinal to add to his points tally.

Another local driver to impress was championship returnee Adrian Horsley from Redcar who won the Stock Hatch A Final despite Lydden being his first event in 18 months and the debut of his new Citroen Saxo