Motor Sport Column: Westmeath's Morgan Dempsey tops the entry at Mondello Park on Sunday in the only southern round of the Northern Ireland Formula Ford Championship.
Series-leader Dempsey, on 71 points, knows the Kildare track well having competed successfully there in several formula and saloon races, which should give him an advantage over Victor Gibson.
Third-placed Michael Edgar trails Gibson by 21 points but, like Dempsey, he had that vital Mondello winning experience to make him a hot contender for race honours.
Neville Anderson has a massive 23-point lead over John Morrow in the Pre'90 class, and Morrow has 16 points in hand over Hugh Graham in the Pre'87 class.
Ulsterman Paul McMoran, who works in Moscow, flies in to chase points in the Pre'82 class in which he trails leader Henry Campbell by 10 points.
The busy programme includes races for Formula Sheane, Fiats, Strykers, Historics and Formula Libre.
Richard Kearney (23), from Leighlinbridge, Co Carlow, has been selected as young racing driver of the Month for July.
After crashing out of his first race this season he leads the Fiat Dunlop Challenge with an unbeaten run of seven race wins, and also won two races in the Phoenix Park. He was third in the Fiat Championship last year.
Sad news indeed for motor racing is the closing down of Cliff Dempsey Racing, Ireland's most successful home-based racing team over the past 14 years.
Team owner Cliff Dempsey said, "It has been a really difficult decision but we were put in a corner when our sponsor (KTK sand and gravel) pulled out halfway through the season."
The team has everything up for sale.
Four Irish karting drivers, Robert Cregan (Portmarnock), Michael Slein (Clontarf), James McCarthy (Fermoy) and Dean Jones (Ashbourne), took part in the Formula BMW Licence Course at the Formula BMW racing Centre in Valencia, Spain. The successful drivers will be invited to the Formula BMW UK Scholarship Qualifying in October, and the top Irish driver will be awarded the €52,000 BMW Ireland scholarship to contest the UK series in 2005.
WEEKEND FIXTURES
Sunday: ALMC Stage Rally, Virginia, Co Cavan, 10.0; Motor racing, Mondello Park, 12.0.
