MOULTON solicitor Simon Cole continued his fine start to the sprint season in the opening round of the Yorkshire Speed Championship at Oliver's Mount, Scarborough last weekend.

The two-day event saw an extremely close competition in the over 2,000cc road-going saloon and sports car class on both days.

On the Saturday, Cole's trusty 4.6-litre TVR 350i was pipped to class victory by just 0.2 seconds by Bolton driver Mark Wallwork in a Sierra Cosworth 4x4.

The following day Cole briefly held the class lead by a slender 0.04 seconds, but his Lancashire rival went faster still on one of the final runs to again secure victory.

But Cole had the consolation of another runner-up spot after claiming the scalps of some illustrious machinery, including a BMW M3 EVO, a Renault Clio V6 and three V8 Morgans.

* Local motorcycle racers were also in action at Oliver's Mount on Monday when the Auto 66 Club Spring National road races took place.

Middlesbrough veteran Dave Woolams emerged as an unlikely hero in the solo classes with a superb string of results which included a sixth in the 600cc event as well as fifth in the opening 1300cc race.

However, Woolams managed a career-best third place around his local track in the second open event of the weekend aboard his 750cc Kawasaki.

Scotton's Greg Lambert gave his new outfit a shake down in readiness for next month's Isle of Man TT races with a superb second place in the sidecar event, one place ahead of Tony Thirkell from Rainton, who will also venture across to the TT.

* Sixteen-year-old racer Barry Burrell was in action in round two of the BMW Motorrad Boxer Cup at Oulton Park last weekend and was unlucky to end up seventh after a brilliant ride in testing conditions.

After finishing inside the top 20 in the opening round at Daytona in Florida two months ago, the Bishop Auckland ace was contesting only his second race on a four-stroke machine and managed to qualify the Team GB machine in 14th place.

Wet weather greeted the riders just before the start, but Burrell climbed the leaderboard to run as high as third before the rain stopped and the track began to dry out.

Burrell had gambled on wet tyres and the loss of grip saw him slither home in seventh at the end of the 16-lap race.

Also in action at Oulton was 21-year-old Russ Hodgson, who posted a battling eighth place finish in the Virgin Mobile Yamaha R6 Cup. The Yarm rider could only manage a row four start on his Mark Middleton-backed machine, but clawed his way through the field.

Middlesbrough starlet Paul Veazey was 14th in the 125cc GP class, while Stockton's Michael Hill claimed 28th in the same race, one place behind Whitby rider Jenny Tinmouth, who was making her debut in the series.

Mark Burr from Darlington finished 16th in the ultra-competitive British Supersport Championship race.

* Defending Mini Miglia champion Chris Lewis returned to the series for the first time this season with a battling runner-up spot at Croft last weekend. The Exelby driver, who is only contesting selected rounds this year, qualified third on the grid before claiming second in the Darrell Staniforth Motorsport car.

* Ingleton's Tony Thompson and co-driver Ian Windress from Northallerton finished second overall on the R and M Welsh Rally last weekend.

Using the event as a shakedown for this weekend's Manx National rally, the pair were fifth in their Tidybike Mitsubishi at the end of day one before a concerted charge over the military roads on the Epynt ranges elevated them to second.

Thompson will hope to continue his success on the Isle of Man along with a handful of other local crews, including Scorton's Steve Petch and Romanby's John Richardson.

Stephen Petch junior, Ripon's Charlie Payne and Nunnington driver Martyn Harrison will also be in action on the event.