GRANDAD Phil Searle has a lifelong dream. And neither age nor anyone else's opinion is going to stop him making it come true.

At 56, but still fit and active, Phil has taken up motor cycle racing and flies round the Oulton Park track at speeds up to 130mph.

His neighbour and mechanic Ronnie Haworth, also 56 and a lorry driver, has dubbed Phil and himself Team Geriatric as they take to the track with youngsters half their age.

But nothing will deter Phil - not even coming off at 70mph on a tight bend in pouring rain last Saturday.

"I only had a few bruises. I just need wets on wheels," he said, referring to the tyres racers need in the monsoon conditions which lashed the North West last week-end.

Phil, of Burnley Road East, Lumb, Rossendale, owned a BSA Goldstar in his teens, but was forced to sell it when he got married.

He jokes: "I traded in a Goldstar for a Gwynneth." But the truth is that motor cycle racing is an expensive sport and it was only recently, with his family grown, that Phil has been able to consider it.

He bought a Honda CBR 600 and spent two years practising before his first race meeting on May 31 when, to his delight he came first in his class, even though he was a fair way down the field.

But why is is risking his life now?

"It's realising a dream. It's unbelievably exciting. When you are on the grid and the lights turn green its like facing your fears and living your dreams all at once."

Phil, who sells health and hygiene products, acknowledges that at his age, he is never going to be another Carl Fogarty.

But he will be satisfied if he manages to move through the field to finish halfway up on a regular basis.

Fortunately Gwynneth, 50, is also a keen motor cycle racing fan and happy to go and watch him, though she said she was glad she did not see him come off the bike last week.

It's as well she shares her husband's hobby because she could be facing many years trackside. Phil's father, another Phil, now 80 and living on the Fylde, still owns and rides a 1929 AJS and is contemplating buying a 1937 Rudge - both motor bike classics.

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