Roundstone Racing Suzuki of Angmering are set to move on to the world stage.

The Sussex team have announced their intentions to move from the UK National Championships to the SBK World Supersport Championship for the 2003 season.

It represents huge progress for a team who have only been competing at British level for two years.

Team owner David Trigg said: "We are hoping to go World Supersport with two of our current riders, Craig Jones and Chris Burns.

"The decision has not been made yet over which bikes we will be riding. We are in the process of putting deals together.

"The budget is £1.3million to go worlds. That means we will be going to Australia, Japan and South Africa. There is also talk we will be doing a round in the States.

"Craig is only 17 but we need to get him out on tracks and learning.

"The idea is that in 2005 we will possibly switch to GP2.

"At the moment it is all down to getting the funds in. If we can't we won't be going and we will be staying at British level."

Trigg, an enthusiastic racer himself, has been delighted with the performance of the team at British Superbike level this season and is excited about the prospect on making the next step up.

He said: "We are talking about the world's most competitive class. It is unbelievable.

"You need to go out there with the right competitive machinery and equipment. We have secured the deals to do that.

"We are not there at the moment but we are pushing hard for it."

The decision to move up with Jones and Burns leaves the third Roundstone rider, John Crockford, seeking a new team for next year.

Having to find a new team seems to have done Crockford no harm as he has won the last two rounds of the British Superbike Series, firstly at Knockhill in Scotland and then again at Thruxton last Sunday.

In a hard fought race, Crockford eventually triumphed over TT supremo Dave Jefferies, although the Roundstone man can consider himself slightly fortunate as the safety car was deployed allowing him to catch Jefferies who had initially built up quite a lead. Team-mate Burns finished fourth.

Overall in the Superstock class, Jefferies leads with 180 points from Burns on 150 and Crockford on 138.

In the Junior Superstock race, Jones was forced wide into the last corner while leading the race and had to settle for fifth place. This left Jones in second position in the championship, seven points behind leader Tom Sykes.

Crockford also had two guest races in the Superbike class aboard a Padgetts Suzuki. Placings of tenth and ninth respectively were excellent results considering he had not ridden the bike before. Hopefully these results will draw some attention to him for next season.

The next round of the championships is August Bank Holiday Monday at Cadwell Park, which sees the return to action of Heathfield racer Dave Heal in the Superstock class.

Heal has been contesting the National Supermoto championship this season but he tests the new bikes at Brands Hatch next Wednesday and will decide after the Cadwell meeting whether to consider a full time return to top level racing.