YORK'S newest motorcycle racing team have one eye on breaking into the British Superbike scene.

Riders Andy Murphy and Gary Butfield, of the newly-formed Team York Suzuki Centre, have been making positive inroads in their first season competing in the MRO Championships.

The MRO competition is just one step down from the British Superbike Championships, the equivalent of football's Division One to the Premier League.

Racing in the Superstock Production class aboard their GSXR 1000 fuel-injection bikes the duo can reach speeds of around 200mph.

In their first round of competition at Donington, the pair qualified seventh and eighth, only for Butfield to be knocked from his bike at the third corner of the race.

Murphy, however, managed to finish 12th to score championship points.

Their most recent outing came last weekend at Silverstone where they shrugged of the pitfalls of intermittent rainfall as Murphy qualified in 12th and Butfield in 24th.

Come race time, Murphy overcame suspension problems to finish 16th although it promised to be a better return for Shipton-by-Beningbrough bike ace.

At one point in the race he was in fourth position before his progress was pegged when he lost both wheels as the speedometer topped 160mph.

An electrical problem robbed Butfield of his first finish and forced him to retire after two laps.

Their next outing is this weekend at Oulton Park, in Cheshire, and this will be followed by meeting at Snetterton, Norfolk, and then Scarborough's Oliver's Mount.

The Scarborough venue promises to be a homecoming of sorts for Murphy, who had not raced for more than five years before returning to the saddle with Team York Suzuki Centre for the MRO championships.

A front-runner in the British Championships for many years, Murphy remains a two-lap record holder at the Scarborough circuit and is a former Cock o' the North winner.

Sponsored by The Bridge Hotel, at Walshford, the team also have official backing from Suzuki.

Updated: 12:16 Saturday, April 14, 2001