Competitors in the RIAC/ Dunlop Hillclimb Championship series have a double date in Dungarvan, Co Waterford this weekend for rounds seven and eight of the 14-round National series.
The Carrick-on-Suir and Tipperary clubs join forces to organise the two-day event on the `Sweep' hill which is the old Dungarvan-Cork road. Reigning champion Ronnie Maybin, driving a Delta, shares the lead with Donal Griffin who drives the Statoil Formula Opel, both on 54 points, with Padraig Forde in a close third on 50 points at the wheel of his Scott V8.
Ulsterman Maybin is under pressure from Griffin, the Shannonsider on a charge this year after running Maybin a close second for the title in 1997 and the coveted Frank Keane Trophy.
Griffin has a long record, having rallied a Ford Escort Twin Cam back in 1973. He raced an Avenger in 1985 and went on to Formula Ford, finishing second in the Star of Tomorrow Championship. Behind Galway driver Padraig Forde, former champion Jenny Kennedy (Belfast) is struggling to keep pace and is effectively out of contention on 42 points.
Martin Finnegan, Marty Nutt, John Walsh, Roddy Hayes, Enda Carrigan and Seamus Moore will set the pace in Sunday's Clubman Championship motorcycle races at Mondello Park. The meeting will also feature a round of the Laser Production Bike series, in which the leading protagonists are Barry Gill (Limerick) on a 900cc Honda Fireblade and Derek Wilson (Cork) riding a 750cc Suzuki. Brian Coogan, Pat Bradley and Mark Hamilton should offer a good challenge as they dice for race placings and championship points.
Next weekend sees a clash between the Shell Donegal International Rally and a championship race meeting on the new International 2.25-mile Circuit at Mondello Park. Rally and racing enthusiasts tend to be poles apart as they follow their particular interests. It seems a shame to have such clashes when other weekends may have few events listed.
Ray Moore, a 37-year-old Dublin company director, competes in a round of the British Formula Vee Championship at Oulton Park, Cheshire tomorrow. Driving his Irish-designed and built Leastone, Moore won the recent Formula Vee Festival at Kirkistown, Co Down, beating Dundalk driver Brian Hearty in a Wicklow-built Sheane by a narrow margin. In 1996 he won the British Formula Vee Championship, the firstever title win by an Irish driver in an Irish car in Britain. Leastone racing cars are built by Paul Heavey's Leastone Engineering, of Lowtown, Kilmeague, Co Kildare. David Sheane of Sheane Engineering, Blainroe, Wicklow has built hundreds of Formula Vee cars over roughly 20 years, and his Sheane cars continue to win in Ireland's single-seater class. Formula Vee cars are powered by Volkswagen 1600 engines and provide relatively low budget but highly competitive motor racing. An Irish success story that is virtually unknown outside racing circles.
