DON'T mention Darren Barton's latest "injury" to the former British 125cc champion - it's something of a sore point so to speak.

You see a rather delicate problem has left next Sunday's ride at Oulton Park in jeopardy and Darren is desperate not to miss an appearance at one of his favourite tracks.

To put it bluntly, he has a rather large boil on his bottom.

And Darren said: "I've had my share of injuries during my career but, as you can imagine, a red-raw backside for a racer is the pits.

"Things, however, are coming to a head (!) and I'll make my decision after practise on Friday."

He could always ride side saddle. . .

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.