Guisborough's Dennis Hobbs continued his historic association with the prestigious Ken Redfern Trophy when he became the first rider in history to win it four times in succession with a masterful display at Croft on Sunday.

The 22-year-old Hobbs Racing Suzuki rider tested his 1000cc machine at the track on Friday but decided to sit out the supporting NEMCRC club races over the weekend to concentrate on the ten-lap feature race.

Despite his rivals gaining more track time, it proved to be no handicap for Hobbs who disposed of the initial challenge of Scot Phil Stewart and his 1000cc Yamaha on lap two as he took the lead.

Hobbs then proceeded to pull clear of the pursuing pack as he stamped his authority on the race and, such was his pace, he set a new outright solo lap record of 1:25.08, some three-quarters of a second faster than his previous best which had stood for almost a year.

Hobbs' eventual winning margin was over 14 seconds ahead of Stewart with Manxman Juan Kinnish claiming third on his Suzuki.

"I was hoping I could go a lot faster but the track was a little bit slippy in some places so I decided to just do what I had to in order to win the race" said Hobbs afterwards. "I hope to be back next year to try and win it for a fifth time but it all depends on whether it clashes with the British Championship" said the Scott Leathers-supported rider, who currently lies second in the British Superbike Cup.

Team Hobbs travel to Knockhill in Scotland this week for round eight of the THINK! British Superbike Championship series where Hobbs hopes to transform his Croft form into his first BSB win of the season.

l Darlington's Guy Wilks won two stages in the Rally of Turkey on Sunday and took an excellent third place to back up his Acropolis Rally win last time out.

He ran into a number of problems over the opening two stages of the rally, but his recovery on the final day moved him into second place in the championship, two points behind Nicolas Bernardi.

Published: 29/06/2004