TRACK ace Robert Tobin has several mouth-watering clashes lined up this summer.

Most exciting will be a head-to-head confrontation in June with Tim Benjamin, the British number one over 400 metres.

They are matched at the Norwich Union British Grand Prix in Gateshead on June 11, when the 22-year-old Basingstoke and Mid-Hants runner will be out to beat the Welshman, who runs for Belgrave Harriers, for the first time.

Their most recent clash was in the Golden League in Brussels at the end of the 2005 outdoor season. Benjamin was second in 44.74sec, with Tobin seventh in 45.73.

Tobin (pictured) and Benjamin were British team-mates last season, sharing relay gold at the European Cup in Florence but finishing just out of the medals at the world championships in Helsinki.

Tobin, the European under-23 champion, also just missed a place in the individual final in Helsinki, but Benjamin went on to finish fourth in 44.93sec.

Benjamin has now recovered from the hamstring injury that kept him out of the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne and he will be looking for an early-season scalp.

Benjamin is the last person to beat reigning world and Olympic champion Jeremy Wariner, so to get close to him would be a feather in Tobin's cap.

Tobin, looking forward to the Gateshead clash, said: "I have heard that he's training quite well now.

"I have never beaten Benjamin but I will run my own race. That's all you can do.

"My own training is going well."

Benjamin said: "My body is in one piece and I'm really looking forward to competing in front of a British crowd. I'll be looking to get back to winning ways again as soon as possible."

Also in the field is former Commonwealth Games gold medallist Michael Blackwood.

Tobin is now over the disappointment of finishing without a medal in Melbourne. He was an individual semi-finalist and his England team were fourth in the 4x400m relay.

He showed in his first outdoor race this season that he has lost none of his speed since returning from Australia in March.

He won an invitational 200m at the Loughborough International, clocking an impressive 21.31sec and leaving in his wake a European junior 100m champion.

Tobin's next goal will be to do well at the AAA championships in Manchester on July 15 and 16 to qualify for the British team for the European championships in Gothenburg the following month.

Manchester will provide another opportunity for Tobin to get his first win over defending champion Benjamin.