Dunlop National Rally Championship leader Niall Maguire returns to Waterford on Sunday to seek a hat-trick of wins on the Ravens Rock Rally. Last year the Monaghan driver won the event on a tie-breaker with Pete Doughty, and will be under pressure this time from four UK drivers - Doughty, Bob Fowden and Melvyn Evans in Ford Escort WRC's and James Harrison in a Subaru Impreza.
Ray Breen will be back at the wheel of his Impreza which was damaged in the recent Circuit of Munster, and is the fastest local driver in with a chance of a top placing. Dubliner Michael Barrable drives a Toyota Celica GT4, Dermot Kelly (Limerick) and Tommy Graham (Kildare) will be quick in Escort Cosworths and Derek Smith (Wicklow) should be up there ahead of much more modern machinery in his 2.4 Escort Mk.2.
Competition will be keen in the Ford Ka Championship, with 13 drivers entered, amongst the 150 crews competing for overall and class honours. After three rounds James Travers (Kilkenny) leads on 86 points, followed by Oliver Stanley (Durrow) 67; John Carroll (Kilkenny) and Gus Kearney (Clonmel) 57 each; John O'Dowd (Moate) 56; Dublin drivers Liam Denning 54 and Barry Barrable 51; and Denise Ryan (Athy) 36, the leading lady driver.
Run by the Carrick-on-Suir Motor Club, the rally has a new HQ in the Woodlands Hotel on the Dunmore Road, Waterford, with continued sponsorship from James Coleman and Suirway Forklifts & Pro Train. The 4x2 stages are: Knockaderry, Shanakill, Croughaun Hill and Beaulough , with central service on the main Waterford-Cork road at Carrolls Cross.
Tomorrow's motor racing at Kirkistown, Co. Down features rounds of several championships. In Formula Ford Zetec, Alan Ring of Castleisland leads on 38 points, but just two points behind is Stephen Kane (Ballinahinch) following his victory in the last round at Knockhill in Scotland. Wexford's James Murphy is also in contention in third place with a score of 34 points. In the Northern Ireland Formula Ford 1600 championship, Noel Robinson has a six points lead over Stephen Colbert.
Dublin drivers Michael Cullen and Paddy Shovlin race at Zandvoort near Amsterdam on Sunday in the Ferrari Challenge series. After the first two rounds at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium and the A1 Ring in Austria, Cullen is third in the championship and aims to consolidate his position in Holland.
