MOTORSPORT fans will be savouring chance to witness classic racing when the British Touring Car championship roars into Croft this weekend.

A series of rides in North Yorkshire comes on the back of two of the most closely-fought rounds for years. The new circuit at Rockingham in Northamptonshire saw controversy, drama and some of the best driving tactics - which could mean there are scores to settle when racing resumes. Sunderland-based Warren Hughes is in the thick of the action just as the championship comes closer to home.

In the second race at Rockingham his MG ZS was lying third and looking good for a podium finish when further down the field Tom Boardman and Michael Bentwood tangled on the fast bank speedway section of the track. Contact put Edenbridge BMW driver Bentwood into the wall and the safety car was out within seconds.

The field bunched up behind Hughes' teammates Anthony Reid, who had been leading comfortably until then and, on the restart, the veteran Scot defended his position.

But, as the front-runners arrived at turn one a lap later Reid overshot, second-placed Yvan Muller locked up trying to take a tighter line - and that gave Hughes in third a glimpse of victory.

Breaking hard and taking the tightest line, he seemed to have made it through - only to have his teammate barge him aside as he made a desperate attempt to recover. His momentum gone, Hughes couldn't hang on and Muller and Vauxhall teammate James Thompson were soon through.

To add insult to injury, Reid again made heavy contact with Hughes to take third later as the closing stages of the race became a free for all. But, although he managed to take the last podium place, Hughes was still seething.

Yesterday, Hughes insisted there were no big issues and the two would not be taking any bitterness onto the circuit at Croft.

However, he admitted, at the time, he had found Reid's tactics hard to swallow. "I expect it with the opposition - and I recognise my teammate is opposition as well - but not to the same degree as the Vauxhall and Honda drivers.

"I understand how it happened as we were so close to the end of the race but, hopefully, it won't be as robust as that between Anthony and myself this weekend."

When the championship came to Croft at the halfway mark a year ago, it was with Vauxhall in a commanding lead and the VX racing team seem on course to retain the title in 2003. However, York-born James Thompson isn't having things his own way and will have to fight hard if he want to prevent Frenchman Muller from wresting the driver's crown from him.

Despite an impressive start to the season when the Yorkshireman took two wins at Mondello Park, Thompson has struggled to impose on the series since. Muller, on the other hand seems to be leading a charmed life and could finally clinch the title he has been denied since arriving in England as an Audi driver back in the 1990s.

Hughes admits his own chances of winning the driver's crown are virtually nil; only a series of disasters for others would put him in with a chance - but he has by no means lost his will to win.

"Vauxhall have had the rub of the green, there's no doubt about it; they've benefited from others misfortunes,'' he admitted.

"Sometime it's called champion's luck although you have to be there at the right place to take advantage of it.

"But realistically, the Vauxhalls are now too far ahead; it would take something dramatic every weekend for us to close the gap and we have to accept the series is too competitive for that the happen.

"Third place is a realistic possibility so now my priority is to get the car winning and I believe we are on course for that now."

Both Reid and Hughes start the weekend handicapped with excess weight on board after their second and third places three weeks ago; Hughes doesn't expect a particularly strong showing in the opening race tomorrow. However, with the MG overcoming difficulties with the Dunlop tyres, caused by the cars' suspension geometry, he is predicting a strong challenge for all three teams drivers in race two.