They'll need a full year to understand what the priorities are, and how to cope with them."So while it was colourful and entertaining, the race also had the underlying element of hard technological competition that motor racing needs. While the BMW drivers were on the podium spraying the victory champagne, there were frowns and lowered voices at the back of the Cadillac pit, where Bernard and Collard were comparing notes and conferring with their engineers. The pampered and remote stars of Formula One may attract a bigger audience, but on Saturday they could have learnt a useful lesson about how to bring a sense of fun back to an essentially serious sport.. Leigh maintained their pursuit of top place in the Northern Ford Premiership yesterday as they made their defeat by Swinton early in the season look like a distant memory. Leigh maintained their pursuit of top place in the Northern Ford Premiership yesterday as they made their defeat by Swinton early in the season look like a distant memory. Unaccountably failing to draw inspiration from having their match sponsored by The Independent, Swinton were a pale shadow of the team that won at Hilton Park, showing all too clearly why they are unlikely to make the top-eight and the play-offs in such a competitive division."I can accept being beaten by a better side, but not some of the defending I saw out there," said their coach, Mike Gregory.The scene was set inside the first minute when the Leigh prop, Andy Leatham, was allowed to charge 40 yards and sell a dummy on the way to the game's first try.

It came at a cost, when his collision with the post caused a pelvic injury serious enough for him to be taken to hospital, but from that point on it was Swinton's performance that was out of joint.A huge gap opened up to allow Paul Anderson to keep up his recent run of try scoring, and Jason Roach's touchdown after he stole the ball from his opposite number, Alan Cross, was a brief interlude for Swinton.Leigh played some impressive attacking rugby for the rest of the half, with their highly-rated hooker and full-back, Mick Higham and Stuart Donlan, adding further tries and Paul Wingfield kicking six goals from as many attempts.Leigh went through a sloppy phase at the start of the second half but could, in theory, have allowed a less dispirited team than Swinton to come back.The Lions did manage one try, through Phil Coussons, but that was enough to rouse Leigh once more. Higham's dart from dummy-half exposed the home defence again for Adam Bristow to score and Wingfield, who finished with nine goals, and Simon Baldwin rounded off a convincing display.It was a relief for Paul Terzis, who had seen his side beat Batley last week, despite conceding 40 points. "Defensively, it was the best we've played over 80 minutes since I came here," the Leigh coach said. Even he would admit, however, that Swinton asked them few questions of any difficulty.Swinton Lions: English; Roach, Coussons, Loughlin, Billy; Craig, Watson;Neill, Highton, Knowles, Pickavance,Randall, Smith.

Substitutes used: Bateman, Evans, Stazicker, Henare.Leigh Centurions: Donlan; Wingfield, Anderson, Purtill, Cross; Fairclough, Dean; Street, Higham, Leatham, Baldwin, Cruckshank, Bristow Substitutes used: Kendrick, Ingram, Whittle, Norman Referee: G Shaw (Wigan).. Wigan reclaimed top place in the Tetley's Bitter Super League yesterday but the Leeds revival was ended abruptly when they were pipped 26-22 at Hull. Wigan reclaimed top place in the Tetley's Bitter Super League yesterday but the Leeds revival was ended abruptly when they were pipped 26-22 at Hull. The Warriors beat Wakefield Trinity Wildcats 48-30 at the JJB Stadium without ever being at their best to leapfrog St Helens and Bradford Bulls into pole position.The home scrum-half Willie Peters scored the try of the match three minutes before the break as raced 90 metres after snatching an interception.The Wildcats trailed only 22-20 at the halfway stage thanks to tries from Francis Stephenson, Adam Hughes and Neil Law.Wigan moved up a couple of gears in the second half following the introduction of 18-year-old hooker Mark Smith, who tormented the visitors.Jason Robinson scored two tries while Peters and Kris Radlinski also crossed the line, but Wigan once more lapsed under the hot sun as Paul Sampson and Hughes chalked up late consolation tries.Frank Endacott, the Wigan coach, said: "We let them back into the game by half-time and it was all about getting the players back on track."Wakefield gave us a wake-up call and we responded in the second half. We weren't at our best but at least we got the two points."Wakefield's head coach Andy Kelly said: "We came here with a positive attitude and overall it wasn't a bad 80 minutes.