GUISBOROUGH road racer Dennis Hobbs continued his excellent form this season by taking a career-best double victory in the fourth round of the British Superbike Championship Privateers' Cup at Rockingham last weekend.

Riding his 1,000cc Hobbs Racing Suzuki, the 21-year-old fought off a strong challenge from a packed grid to emerge with a brace of wins. The victories moved him into second place in the standings, having missed the opening round as his bike wasn't ready in time.

In race one, Hobbs sprinted away from the rest of the Privateers in the early stages only for his tyres to go off just after half distance, forcing him to ease the pace.

But he held on to take an impressive 14th place overall and head his class by some seven seconds.

In the second of the 22-lap races, Hobbs had to fight much harder and was holding a slender lead when he got held up by backmarkers. But he managed to out-sprint his main rival, Dave Wood, to win by a tenth of a second.

With four wins and two second places from the six races he has contested to date, Hobbs is now just six points adrift of Wood as they head to Mondello Park in Ireland for the next round next weekend.

Also in action at the Northampton circuit was Darlington's Mark Burr, who claimed a deserved 11th place in the Supersport race aboard his 600cc Carbontek Yamaha.

From 19th position on the grid, Burr raced through the field to claim his best result of the season, despite late tyre problems.

As a result, the team secured important prize money and will now be able to make the trip across the Irish Sea for next weekend's race at Mondello Park.

The slippery track conditions at Rockingham put paid to the hopes of two of the region's racers set to contest round seven of the 125cc national championship.

Both Middlesbrough's Paul Veazey and Stockton racer Michael Hill saw their event cancelled when remedial work to remove some slippery paint lines over ran.

Yarm's Russ Hodgson was a non-starter in the Yamaha R6 Cup following a leg injury he sustained last time out at Brands Hatch and the withdrawal of promised funds from a potential sponsor.

However, with this weekend's double header taking place at the British Grand Prix at Donington Park, the 22-year-old is trying desperately to secure sufficient finances to compete in front of the world's best racers and a crowd in excess of 100,000.

Veazey meanwhile goes for glory in the British 125cc Grand Prix on Sunday. The 17-year-old has been granted one of five UK wild cards and hopes to score points on his world championship debut.