BARROWFORD biker Dominic Barlow is hoping to follow in the tyre tracks of Burnley racing legend Neil Hodgson.

The 25-year-old has only been racing for little over six months, but he has already turned heads with several top performances.

And he admitted he had a burning ambition to match his idol and former World Superbike Champion.

Barlow said: "You've got to have a target to aim for. There's no point going out there to compete just for fun. My opinion is that you've got to be the best at what you do and that's what I want.

"Neil has done it at the very top, so that's a pretty good target to aim for."

It has been a meteoric rise to fame for Barlow, who was more accustomed to mountain bikes, trails bikes and motocross.

His first season over the summer months went exceptionally well on the Grand Prix circuit. Touring from one race course to the next, covering both local and national races, such as Snetterton and Oulton Park. Barlow caught the eye with his qualifying results and track times, coming third at Aintree, and sixth at Cadwell Park in British 125 nationals.

But he admitted it wasn't an easy transition.

He said: "I've had to learn from my mistakes and, luckily, I learned after eight or nine races. I crashed at 80mph at Cadwell Park and I learned from that.

"To be honest, after I fell off, I didn't want to go back on again. But I had a race later on in the day, the bike was fixed, I had to go for a medical and when I came back I was on it and away again."

Barlow's second season is due to start again at the beginning of March when he will be riding a new class of motorcycle, a Honda RS 250GP bike.

On this new machine, he will be riding the 250 British Championship and hopefully some European Championship rounds as well as racing for his National Licence.

First though, he has to get used to the new bike during testing sessions in Spain next month.

But he was confident he could make an impact next season.

He added: "I'm hoping for a top five finish in my first full season. If I get that I'll be pretty happy. Longer term I'm looking to get my national licence and, hopefully, get a wildcard to take part in the MotoGP. That would be fantastic."

Barlow will also be entering a new competition called Thundersport Production, which will be televised on Motors TV throughout Europe.

l For more information on sponsorship packages or if you would like to keep up to date and view his race updates and progress and all his latest news, see his webpage at www.dominicbarlow.co.uk or myspace at www.myspace.com/race_dombarlow.