Broc Parkes and his Kawasaki World Superbike team-mate Sheridan Morais set the free practice pace ahead of the weekend's triple-race eighth round of the British Superbike Championship at Brands Hatch.

Hybrids have carved out quite a niche for themselves among environmentally-aware buyers but don't really appeal to the enthusiasts.

Valentino Rossi claimed pole position for the Dutch TT at Assen as the Italian bids to record his 100th grand prix victory in Holland today.

I could tell you about Cannes – the Cannes Advertising Festival. But really most of London’s adland seems barely to have noticed that this is Cannes week.

Jonathan Rea fought off the attentions of Michel Fabrizio and Noriyuki Haga to win his maiden Superbike World Championship race in the second leg of an action-packed round at Misano, Italy, yesterday.

The Honda car factory in Swindon re-started its engine yesterday after closing its doors four months ago as the global recession sent car-buying into freefall.

Thousands of car workers returned to the production line at one of the UK's biggest plants today after a four-month shut down.

Thousands of staff will resume production at the Honda car factory at Swindon in Wiltshire tomorrow after a four-month shutdown at the plant.

Workers at Honda's Swindon factory are expected to accept a 3 per cent pay cut when the plant goes back into production next month.

Ben Spies bounced back from his opening-race agony of running out of fuel when leading on the last lap to claim victory in the second race of the FIM Superbike World Championship meeting here yesterday.

Two brothers have been killed in a car accident, police said yesterday. Ryan Mabbott, 12, and his brother Daniel, 16, died after the Honda Civic in which they were travelling was in collision with a Mercedes on Saturday between Swillington and Woodlesford, near Leeds, West Yorkshire.

Good news: according to some reports, at least, the Government is ready to help the motor industry. The bad news? We'll be helping the French, German, Korean, Polish, Czech, Slovakian and Korean motor industries rather than our own.

Noriyuki Haga struck a blow in his duel with Ben Spies for supremacy in the 2009 Superbike World Championship as the Xerox Ducati rider eased to a masterly double victory in the third round of the season in Valencia yesterday.