NEARLY ten years after he set the Supersport 600 class lap record there, Northallerton's Paul Mackley made a successful return to the Olivers Mount circuit on the outskirts of Scarborough last weekend.

Along with a host of other local riders, the 36-year-old courier contested the International Gold Cup meeting.

Riding the 250 Manton Yamaha, he followed up a fine sixth place in the opening National Superbike leg with another sixth place in the Lee Pullan memorial trophy race after a race-long battle with top Irish racer Dwyer Agnew.

But inclement weather on the Sunday, coupled with a treacherous surface when another machine had dropped oil on the track, meant Mackley and a number of other riders decided to sit out the remainder of the day's action after inspecting the circuit on the warm-up lap preceding the Phil Mellor trophy race.

Greg Lambert of Catterick Garrison and his passenger Tony Green recorded an easy win in Saturday's B final of the Formula Two Sidecar class, some 40 seconds ahead of the Thirsk pairing of Tony Thirkell and Ade Smith.

Thirkell, riding the 600cc Honda DMR outfit, managed to get the better of Lambert's 600cc Molyneux Yamaha in the F2 race on Saturday when they finished fourth and fifth respectively.

In Sunday's F2 race, Lambert recorded a fine second place behind TT winners Ian Bell and Neil Carpenter despite the slippery conditions, but Thirkell retired from a safe third position on lap five.

In what was probably his last ever meeting, Guisborough rider Charlie Topham followed up a great sixth place on Saturday with an even better fifth on Sunday in the 125cc open event.

Topham, making his comeback after half a season out with a broken wrist, has cited lack of sponsorship as the reason he is having to quit the sport.

Middlesbrough veteran Dave Woolams continued his good Scarborough form this year after another busy weekend of racing.

The 40-year-old from Acklam posted a brace of eighth places aboard his 600cc Kawasaki and followed up with a 12th and a 15th in the National Superbike events riding his Yamaha R1.

Another busy man was Saltburn's Ian Watson, who had no less than five top ten placings over the weekend.

Watson took a seventh and two eighth places in the National Superbike races, before following up a sixth place in the 600cc event on Saturday with a fourth place in Sunday's race aboard his ZXR Kawasaki.

Terry Hume from Loftus managed a 16th in the opening National Superbike leg, before finishing 13th aboard his 250cc Honda in the Lee Pullan memorial trophy race.

Richmond's Mick Jackson battled his way through to 13th place in Saturday's 125cc race.

Another rider in the 125cc event was Ray Hutchison, originally from Brompton on Swale but now living near Utrecht in Holland, who made the trip across to finish ninth.

The two-day meeting, organised by the Auto 66 Club, also saw a host of past and present racing legends taking part in the parades, including the likes of Barry Sheene, Mick Grant, Steve Parrish and Kent Andersson as well as modern day heroes Neil Hodgson and Jamie Whitham.

l In his first event since the Christmas Stages last year, Bedale rally driver Kevin Procter was hoping for a good run on the Lookout Stages rally held at Melbourne Airfield near York recently, but sadly retired after just three stages.

Co-driven by debutant Chris Ramsey, from Snape, the pair had set fastest time in their Procter's Coaches Ford Sierra Cosworth and were in command after pre-event favourite Andy Elliott from Easingwold went out on SS1 in his Metro 6R4.

Procter now has his sights set on winning this weekend's Premier Stages Rally near Mansfield, which he won last year with co-driver Mark Lawson from Bedale.

Another local crew scheduled to debut their revolutionary Ford Puma 4x4 on the Melbourne event were Osmotherley's David Brown and co-driver Paul Hudson, from Darlington.

But last minute preparation problems scuppered their chances, so Brown will now give the car its first airing on the Guitel Dalby Gravel Sprint this weekend.

l Fifteen-year-old Middlesbrough schoolboy Paul Veazey's hopes of winning the Aprilia RS125cc Challenge took a nosedive when the youngster could only manage a pair of fourth places in the most recent round at Mallory Park last weekend.

He endured a weekend of niggling mechanical problems which meant he had to ride the team's spare bike. He handicapped himself further by getting poor starts in both races.

With just two rounds remaining, Veazey trails main rival Cal Crutchlow by 14 points.

The next event is scheduled for the Lydden circuit in Kent next weekend