Richard Freshwater defied the odds to claim an impressive set of results on his return to road racing at Lydden Hill.

Peacehaven rider Freshwater won the BEMSEE club's Powerbike in 2001 but another track venture for last season fell through. Instead he turned to SuperMoto racing, an exciting new class which combines road and off-road racing.

With a new British Summer Supermoto Championship being launched this year, that remains Freshwater's priority but he will compete in various rounds of the BEMSEE club championship after being offered a ride.

He was not expecting much when he competed in the Nationwide Supersport 600 races at Lydden Hill last weekend.

Freshwater said: "I had never seen the bike before I got there. It had still got a standard suspension but it was brand new.

"I had not ridden a race bike on the track for 18 months and I had not ridden a road bike since I was nearly killed on my Aprilia 12 months ago.

"I had five laps' practice on Saturday morning and half an hour later I was on the grid. To come away with ninth in my first race was great."

In Saturday's final Freshwater finished 15th and he followed that with another ninth in Sunday's heat and 13th in the final.

Freshwater travelled to the meeting with another Peacehaven rider, Kevin Stone, who took advice from his more experienced friend and went on to claim his first points in this championship.

Stone finished eighth in his heat on Saturday before coming ninth in the final. On Sunday, he was fifth in his heat and 11th in the final.

Stone said: "I was well pleased with the weekend. I was third the first race of the weekend before Kenny Burns (the winner) put me into the gravel.

"Now I know I can ride the bike at that speed it has done my confidence a lot of good. Having Richard there as well really helped me."

Two other Sussex riders enjoyed winning weekends. Haywards Heath's Steve Bullimore continued his excellent start to the season in the Supertwins class with three wins and a third place from four races.

Bullimore began with a win and the fastest lap in the first race and after tinkering with the suspension before race two he produced another great ride to finally get past his great rival Alan Skinner.

In the first race on Sunday Bullimore suffered grip problems and had to settle for third place but he bounced back in the final race of the weekend with another impressive win which it is believed set a new Supertwins lap record at Lydden.

It was a tremendous effort from Bullimore who is still without any sponsors and without trackside assistance, apart from his wife Helen.

Bullimore said: "It was another great weekend and my lead in the championship has grown.

"The next round is Snetterton where horsepower comes into play and my bike is bog standard so we might have to address that."

Crawley's Richard Diamond won all four races in the Grand Prix 125 class.

CRAWLEY Down's Mark Argent has switched from the South Eastern to the North England and Eastern Counties MiniMoto Championship this season.

MiniMoto racing, which sees men competing on knee high bikes, is great fun and highly competitive.

Argent, who has backing from Auto Body Language, Rock Oils and ProTwins, said: "This new championship is run by Phoenix Racing.

"I have changed as the Phoenix offers more demanding, faster tracks with a stronger and talented riding field. Phoenix Racing also offer full technical support."

In the second round at Stretton, Leicestershire, last weekend Argent achieved a good set of results during a weekend littered with accidents.