A pair of cracking Formula Vee races were the highlights of the Irish Motor Racing and Leinster Clubs' weekend of racing in the Phoenix Park, with honours shared equally between two old rivals.

In Saturday's race, a virtually race-long four-car battle saw Ray Moore's Leastone a narrow winner from the similar car of Leastone constructor Paul Heavey. Arch-rival Brian Hearty's Sheane was right on their tails, with the top three cars all within half a second at the chequered flag.

Fourth contender Enda O'Connor was a last-corner retirement when his car went wide and hit a bank.

In yesterday's final, Heavey led for a lap, then Moore took over, and for the last five laps, Hearty tried everything he knew to seize the lead, with the two cars almost side by side down the main straight each time.

Finally, starting the last lap, Hearty pressured Moore into a slight slip at Dublin Crystal corner, and managed to outdrag him on the exit, staying in front all around the 1.73 mile circuit to win by 0.54 second, leaving the two multiple champions with a victory each.

The Dunlop RT2000 Challenge team race mixed four cars each from the RT2000, Stryker and Punto classes, and while Morgan Dempsey looked certain to come through the field and win, he spun off with two laps to go, leaving Gordon Kellett to head the finishers in another RT2000.

Joey Freeburn led from start to finish in the first Punto race, which was held over from Saturday evening until yesterday morning because of various delays, but he was pushed hard all the way by Bob Copeland and Liam Denning.

In the second race, Freeburn spun to the tail of the field on the opening lap, leaving the other two duelling for the lead.

However, Denning was black flagged for a driving offence, leaving Copeland to win from Richie Faulkner, who recovered well from an early problem.

Quentin Smith scored runaway wins in the Fiat Uno race each day, with Alan Dawson also taking a double in the Autotrader Stryker class.

John McLaughlin's Leastone won both of the Formula Vee B races, while Frank Byrnes was the winner of the two Sprints which were run as part of the Motorsport Ireland Hillclimb-Sprint Challenge, between races.

Finland's Tommi Makinen moved closer to a fifth world title in Nairobi yesterday with a record-equalling victory in the gruelling Safari Rally.

The victory puts Makinen 10 points clear in the 2001 driver's standings and also saw him join Carlos Sainz, Colin McRae and Juha Kankkunen at the top of the all-time rally winners list with 23 victories.

Makinen, driving a Mitsubishi Lancer, finished more than 12 minutes clear of compatriot Harri Rovanpera in a Peugeot, with Germany's Skoda driver Armin Schwarz third.

"This was a great victory because it was very hard race," said Makinen afterwards.