CHESTER-LE-STREET motorcycle racer Dave Bell was in scintillating form when the opening rounds of the North East Motorcycle Racing Club’s championships took place at Croft Circuit last weekend.

Aboard the 650cc Kawasaki, Bell took a hat-trick of wins in the Minitwins class which he backed up with four runner-up places in the Thunderbikes class, to round off a successful weekend.

There were plenty of other local riders in action with plenty of victories and podium placings throughout the two-day event at the North Yorkshire track In the classic races, Crook rider Keith Taylor won one on his 500cc Honda and finished third in the other two outings to lead the championship with Peter Bainbridge from Barnard Castle claiming a podium on his 500cc Petty Manx also.

Weardale’s Ian Pattison scored a second and third place finish on his 650cc Suzuki in the Minitwins class with Matt Hunter, from Stockton, bringing his similar machine home in 20th position.

The highly competitive Formula 600 class saw Barnard Castle Yamaha rider Rob Brown square off with experienced Scotsman Les Shand over the four races and Brown emerged with one win and three second places to his credit, including the runner-up spot in the prestigious Laird of Croft feature race. Saltburn’s George Stainthorpe claimed a best result of fifth, whereas Tow Law rider Richard Charlton scored a trio of top ten placings on his Yamaha.

Stephen Lee, from Chester le Street, recorded a best result of eighth in the F600 class on his Yamaha, with West Auckland’s Craig Bell managing an 11th as well.

Steven Bainbridge, from Bishop Auckland, and Stanley’s Kevin Calvert were also top 20 placed during the weekend in the class.

The Open class saw the locals up against it with Richard Charlton the only rider to get inside the top ten all weekend. Darlington trio Richard Clennell (Honda), Andrew Baines (Honda) and Shaun Preston (Suzuki) were placed 13th, 14th and 16th respectively, with Craig Bell and Steven Bainbridge also scoring top 20 placings.

In the pre-injection 600cc class, Adam Nick from Darlington recorded a hat-trick of top ten placings on his Honda, with Chester-le-Street rider Les Cullen claiming a best result of 13th on his Honda and in the sidecar class, there were fifth places all round for Rainton’s Tony Thirkell and Nigel Barlow as well as the Whitby pairing of Dave Atkinson and Jane Wheatcroft.

The Thunderbike class provided great competition with Gary West, from Hartlepool, claiming a third-place finish on his Aprilia, as did fellow Aprilia riders, Graham Ashbridge from Northallerton and Redcar’s Paul Noble over the course of the weekend.

Hartlepool rider Stephen Tallon finished in a best placing of 11th and in the 125cc class, Jamie Ferguson from Hartburn scored a brace of wins as well as a pair of second placings on his 125cc Honda, with younger brother Richard taking third place on no less than three occasions.

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COUNTY Durham rally driver Chris Anderson heads north to Ingliston near Edinburgh this weekend hoping to build on a promising start to his career.

The 17-year-old maintenance engineer, from Butterknowle, near Bishop Auckland, is driving on only his third event with the Dunfermline Car Club-organised Howford Hydraulics Tarmac Stages, which is a qualifying round of the AS Performance North of England Tarmac Rally Championship that he is contesting this season.

After a promising 11th in class last time out at Crail near St Andrews, Chris has once again teamed up with the experienced Chris Thirling to perform co-driving duties in the Wilkinson Maintenance and John Cullerton & Sons-sponsored and MSR Motorsport- prepared Ford Puma S1600 around the former racetrack near the Scottish airport.

Following a year in junior rallycross in 2007, whereby he finished third overall in the BTRDA Championship and won the BTRDA best newcomer award, Anderson sensibly sat last year out as he concentrated on his GCSEs but he made his rallying debut on the Cartersport Jack Frost Stages Rally in January this year.

Sadly, that ended in retirement with a broken gear lever but after last month’s promising performance, he is looking forward to tomorrow’s event.

The car is one previously campaigned by double British Rally Champion Guy Wilks who is a fellow County Durham resident and along with former Scottish champion, Barry Johnson, from Shildon, the pair are aiming to help the talented youngster with his career.

After his latest cross-border trip, it’s back to more familiar territory for Anderson when he contests the ALM Autodrome Stages at Teesside Autodrome, near Middlesbrough, on May 4 and after three successful shakedowns around the racetrack, he’s confident of a good performance.

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BISHOP Auckland’s Barry Burrell got his Superstock 1000 FIM Cup off to a great start when he finished in fifth place at the opening round in Valencia last Sunday.

Riding the MS Racing 1000cc Honda, Burrell battled with works Xerox Ducati teamster Daniele Beretta from Italy and French starlet Loris Baz’s Yamaha throughout the 13-lap race at the Spanish track to claim an important 11 points at the chequered flag.

The next round is at Assen in Holland on April 26, where Burrell will be hoping to improve on his championship placing and claim his first podium in the class.

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THERE’S plenty of action up and down the country this Easter weekend with one of the highlights being the European Rallycross Championship which returns to the UK.

It will mean a long trip to Lydden Hill near Dover in Kent for three local representatives in the shape of Division 1 drivers Kevin Procter form Leeming (Ford Focus) and Gosforth’s David Binks (Mitsubishi Lancer), whereas Hal Ridge from Sunderland will contest the Division 1A class.

The opening round of the British Superbike Championship also takes place this weekend at brands Hatch in Kent with the Guisborough-based Hydrex Honda team one of the favourites.

In the F2 sidecars, Tony Thirkell and Dave Atkinson are joined by Catterick driver Greg Lambert for the pair of races.

More locally for fans, Easter Monday sees the opening round of the 2009 SBD Motorsport MSA Sprint Championship take place at Croft Circuit, and included in the 120-strong entry list are a number of local drivers including Pickhill’s Tracey Taylor-West in action in a Lotus Elise, Sunderland’s Jon Olds in his venerable VW Golf and the 1600cc Westfield shared by Darlington duo Mark Leybourne and Andrea Woodhouse.