YOUNG motorcycle racer Barry Burrell, one of five hopefuls selected at the Red Bull Rookie Academy Day in Rockingham, has announced his withdrawal from the programme.

The Bishop Auckland teenager was due to go to the final showdown in Cartagena, Spain later this month, but instead will be racing in this year's BMW Boxer Cup.

He said: "I was very flattered to be chosen as a finalist in the Red Bull Rookie search and am obviously disappointed not to be taking it further. However, the BMW offer will give me the chance to travel all around the world and, as a 16-year-old, it was too good an opportunity to miss.

"It has been great spending time on and off the track with the current Rookie team and I wish the remaining four finalists all the very best."

Red Bull Rookie team manager Robin Appleyard added: "Barry has a great deal of potential and I'm sure he'll be successful riding the BMW in 2003. It's a shame to lose him, but we're still left with four incredible riders and it will be a tough decision to choose only one."

The remaining four who will be travelling to the final in Spain on February 28 are Ashley Beech (14), Daniel Cooper (14), Jonathan Rea (15) and Michael Robertson (14). They will go out with the current Red Bull Rookies, Guy Fairbrother and Midge Smart, for the final assessment.

The lucky winner will stay on to test with the whole team before embarking on the first British Superbike 125cc race of the season at Silverstone in March.

* Croft circuit have recently announced their 2003 calendar, which will once again provide fans both locally and nationally with a feast of motor sport action on two, three and four wheels over the forthcoming season.

So far, a total of 15 top quality events are set to be held at the north's only permanent motor sport venue between March and October. The highlight is the prestigious British Touring Car Championship, which makes the annual visit on the weekend of July 12 and 13.

The British Touring Car Championship is Britain's premier saloon car series with a long and enviable history dating back to 1958. The series has evolved over the years and its popularity is a direct result of the strong visual resemblance between the race cars and production road cars.

Regulations changed last year to accommodate two classes - the British Touring Car 'Touring' Class and the British Touring Car 'Production' Class. The touring class cars are more highly modified versions of the manufacturers' road cars than their production counterparts.

The 2003 championship will be contested over 20 rounds at ten separate race meetings and dedicated coverage can be seen on ITV.

A revised calendar due to Brands Hatch gaining a round of the American-based CART series will see the Formula Three cars at the circuit over the May bank holiday weekend (May 3 and 4), when budding F1 drivers of the future will be in action.

And after last year's inaugural success, the British Rallycross Grand Prix will round off the season on October 11 and 12, when a host of four-wheeled drive supercars will take centre stage in a bid to lift the coveted title, won last year by Irishman John Haffey.

Indeed, it is rallycross which kicks off the action with the opening round of the British Championship on March 9, with a concoction of British Sprint and national race action making up the remaining six meetings for both modern and classic cars.

Bike fans are also well catered for, with no less than five meetings dedicated to the solos and sidecars. While the circuit has been overlooked again by the increasingly popular British Superbike Championship, the action at club level will be just as intense with local aces out to show their mettle on home turf, especially in the Ken Redfern trophy meeting.

Provisional dates. - March 9: British Rallycross Championship, Darlington & DMC; March 29/30: Motorcycle race meeting, Derby Phoenix MCRC; April 12: Motorcycle race meeting, North East MCRC; April 21: British Sprint Championship, Darlington & DMC; May 3/4: British Formula 3 Championship, BARC. May 24/25: Car race meeting, BARC; June 14: Motorcycle race meeting, North East MCRC; June 28/29: Classic car race meeting, BRSCC; July 12/13: British Touring Car Championship, BARC; July 26/27: Car race meeting, BRSCC. August 9/10: Classic motorcycle race meeting, Classic Racing MCC; August 23/24: Car race meeting, Aston Marton OC; September 6/7: Car race meeting, Darlington & DMC; September 27/28: Motorcycle race meeting, North East MCRC; October 11/12: British Rallycross Grand Prix, Darlington & DMC.

l The Northallerton Auto Club is holding a social night at the Elders Bar function room on Monday. After a lull over the winter period, the social evenings are set to gain in popularity and members old and new, as well as existing, are encouraged to attend.

Membership renewals will be available on the evening along with details of forthcoming events. The evening will also feature videos of the recent Specsavers Christmas Stages Rally and a motor sport quiz.

Meanwhile, the date for the annual awards presentation has been provisionally scheduled for Friday, March 14 at Romanby Golf and Country Club. Tickets are available and anyone in possession of a perpetual trophy from last year's awards presentation is asked to return it to a forthcoming social evening.

* Following last year's hugely successful switch to Gateshead, the Pirelli International Rally will return to Tyneside this year, bringing international motor sport back to the thousands of North-East enthusiasts who flocked to enjoy the action in the town's Watergate Park and in Kielder Forest.

The rally, which runs on the weekend of April 25 and 26, is again the second round of the Pirelli British Rally Championship and is expected to attract the top drivers from across the UK, plus a good number from Europe, especially Scandinavia.

Major improvements to this year's rally will include a new, spectacular send off, with the start ramp located in Gateshead's new Baltic Square development.

Set against the stunning backdrop of the Gateshead Millennium Bridge and adjacent to the new £46m Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, crews are promised a great send off, with the normal throng of rally enthusiasts likely to be swelled by the thousands who flock to the trendy bars and restaurants which have turned the Gateshead Quayside into one of Britain's top party venues.