CHRISTIAN Elkin, the young rider chasing his first British Champion-ship and riding for the Malvern-based UK Motorcycle Racing team, was one of the four wild card riders invited to race in the 125cc class at at last weekend's World Champion-ship British Grand Prix at Donington Park.

He warmed up with an excellent win in the ninth round of the British National Championship at Knock-hill in Scotland the previous weekend.

Here he qualified on the front row in second position during Satur-day's very wet sessions having been fastest throughout Friday's dry practice.

Christian went into the lead on lap three and was never headed again although four riders were always in touch and gave him a very tough time. He held on to take the win by just 0.82 seconds from Red Bull rookie team members Guy Fairbrother.

The win closed the gap on championship leader Chris Martin who finished off the rostrum in fourth position.

After only a three-day break to prepare the Honda, the team were at Donington Park for Christian's debut in a Grand Prix.

After Friday's first qualifying session he was a very creditable 29th and the fastest of the four British wild card entrants out of 36 riders from all over the world with 90 per cent of the teams on either factory supported or using factory kited machinery.

The team took the opportunity to test some new engine parts in the two 45-minute sessions on Saturday with Christian lapping within 0.10 seconds of his Friday best time. Even though he missed half of one session due to an engine problem, he finally qualified for the grid in 31st position and still the best wild card entry.

The race on Sunday was over 26 laps of the 4km circuit in excellent sunny conditions. Christian finished in a very creditable 21st position and top wild card rider home.

The team has a couple of weekends off now before the next British round at Thruxton on August 11.

n MINARDI went close to scoring their second Formula One World Championship points of the season in Sunday's French Grand Prix.

Australian Mark Webber finished in eighth position, just two places outside the points for the part Ledbury-based team.

Team-mate Alex Yoong made it a double top 10 finish which delighted team boss Paul Stoddart.

"We were racing machinery that should have been far ahead of us today," he said.