COUNTY Durham racer Chrissy Rouse finished sixth in last Sunday’s Pirelli National Superstock 600 Championship race as rain again stopped play at Knockhill.

Aboard the Team Haribo Starmix Triumph, the Burnopfield teenager enjoyed a hard-fought scrap with five other riders for 14 laps around the track near Dunfermline until the race was stopped early as heavy rain fell.

In glorious sunshine on Friday, Rouse had managed to end first qualifying in eighth place. But Saturday morning brought severe weather, with monsoon-like rain which damaged some of the track surface, leading race chiefs to axe second qualifying. As a result, Rouse lined up eighth on the grid for what was to be a 22-lap race.

After a sunny morning, small spots of rain started to fall as the bikes lined up on the grid, although it wasn’t heavy enough to warrant wet tyres. Rouse got off to a slow start, dropping a couple of places. By the end of the first lap, he was running ninth and became embroiled in a titanic battle for the top ten places.

Rouse eventually clawed his way up to sixth, seconds before the red flag came out as the rain became heavier. He now lies eighth in the championship going into next weekend’s round at Brands Hatch.

Also making the trip north to Scotland was Hutton Rudby’s Neil Bainbridge, who was making his track debut aboard his KLM/HBH Kawasaki in the Pirelli Superstock 1000 Championship race.

But, as the team fired up the engine prior to the first practice session, it was discovered there was no oil pressure due to a problem with the oil pump. That necessitated a full strip down of the engine and, as a result, Bainbridge missed the all-important first practice session on Friday.

Going straight into Friday’s qualifying, he scraped in by half a second and was hoping to improve on Saturday. But a combination of that damaged track surface and the weather led to the session being cancelled, resulting in a back row start for Sunday’s race. From there, Bainbridge battled against his lack of track knowledge to emerge in 18th place and record his best result of the season.

Guisborough-born Dennis Hobbs, who now lives very close to the Knockhill track, claimed a double podium in the Ducati Tri-Options race.

l Going into their home match against Scunthorpe Scorpions on Thursday last week, Redcar Bears were full of confidence after beating defending champions Edinburgh the previous week.

The Scorpions, who were equal on points with the Bears at the bottom of the Premier League, didn’t get off to a good start as Redcar started with a win for Lasse Bjerre. Heat two saw the Scorpions score a 5-1, but, in heat three, Bears’ Matej Kus and Jonas B Andersen scored a 5-1 to make the score 10-8 to the Bears.

In heat four, Scorpions rider Alex Davies had a fall and damaged his shoulder, ruling him out of the meeting. The re-run was won by Bears’ Adam Roynon, with Stuart Robson third, to increase the lead to 14-10. Heats five and six were 4-2s for the Bears, with wins for Kus and Bjerre. The Scorpions fought back with a 5-1 in heat seven and a 4-2 in heat eight to reduce the deficit to two points.

Heat nine was a fine win for Bears new boy Andersen to split the points 3-3, while heat 10 saw another win for Bjerre, with Roynon third. The 4-2 made the score 32-28 to the Bears. In heat 11, Bears rider Ben Morley fell and was excluded from the re-run, which was won by Robson to split the points 3-3. Heats 12 and 13 were 4-2 scores for the Bears, with wins for Kus and Bjerre.

The Scorpions fought back with a 5-1 in heat 14, when Roynon had an engine failure, but the Bears sealed victory with a 5-1 in the final heat as Bjerre took his fifth win of the night to make it a final score of 49-41.

Last Friday night saw the Bears compete in the Premier League Pairs at Somerset’s Oaktree Arena. Bjerre and Robson rode well to get through to the first semi-final, but were just beaten by Ipswich Witches, who went on to beat Somerset Rebels in the final.

l Stockton and District Motor Club has booked Friday, August 14, and Friday, December 4, for two rounds of the TMSG quiz challenge. Both will be held at Stockton Bowling Club, Salisbury Terrace, Stockton, with an 8pm start. The cost is £5 per person, including food. To attend, email stocktonmotorclub@hotmail.co.uk or contact one of the committee members.

l One of the legends of motorcycle Grand Prix racing will head to North Yorkshire later this year to take part in a chat show organised by North Yorkshire Road Racing Supporters Club.

American "Fast" Freddie Spencer will be at the Golden Lion, in Northallerton, on the evening of Wednesday, September 9, when he will recall his epic battles with the likes of Barry Sheene, Kenny Roberts, Wayne Rainey, Eddie Lawson and Wayne Gardner.

Widely regarded as one of the greatest racers of all time, Spencer was the last man to win two world championships in the same season when he took the 250cc and 500cc titles in 1985. Further details are available at nyrrsc.net.