The withdrawal of major sponsorship for the annual Phoenix Park motor races has come as shock to the Irish and Leinster Motor Clubs. Over last three years, the event has grown in stature and profile thanks to sponsorship by Rothmans and when the Rothmans Group announced that the Winfield cigarette brand was to sponsor the Williams Formula One team, it was virtually certain that this year's event would be known as the Winfield Phoenix Park Motor Races.
Not so. Five months after the last Phoenix Park motor races the organisers have been notified of the withdrawal of sponsorship by P J Carroll and Co. This leaves the organisers precious little time to seek alternative sponsorship. Without this the future of the races are in jeopardy.
The Phoenix Park races are unique, a spectacular free show for many years - since the first Irish Grand Prix was staged in Dublin in 1929. To lose the event now would be a big blow for fans here.
Meanwhile, tomorrow, six Irish crews start from the once famous Brooklands race track in England on the ninth Monte Carlo Challenge for classic cars. Frank Fennell and Kevin Savage are seeded 30 in a 1964 Volvo 122S Amazon. Fennell is an old hand at retro rallies, winning the Corse Retro last year. Philip Armstrong and Frank Hussey, in another Volvo Amazon, are seeded 48, and Armstrong is hoping to improve on his fourth overall last year. The other Irish crews are: Ed Cassidy and Mick O'Shea (1962 Riley 1.5, seeded 59); Tom Callanan and Frank Scanlon (1964 Triumph TR4, 106); Richard McAllister and Jo McAllister (1965 Volvo 12 Amazon, 107); Paul O'Brien and Ronan Fenton (1969 MGB, 126).
Cassidy has competed in all eight Monte Carlo Challenge events. Tom Callanan in three, with a class win in one. The husband and wife team of Richard and Joe McAllister are on their second run after a class win last year.
Mondello Park reopens on Sunday with Round Three of the RIAC National Rallycross Championship. Dermot Carnegie (Ford Escort Cosworth) leads on 40 points from Kevin Twomey (Metro 6R4) 30. In the Faulkner "Star of Tomorrow" series Daragh Byrne and Graham Quinn are joint leaders on 34 points, with Derek Driver third on 30. Graham McClintock (40 points) leads Thomas O'Rourke (34) in the "Motokov 2000" division.
Dublin riders Nicky Craigie and Vinny Fitzsimons both completed the recent 18-day Paris-Dakar Rally, finishing a creditable 46th and 49th overall, respectively. In the Experimental Class, Craigie was eighth and Lappin 10th. Ulster rider Adrian Lappin was forced to withdraw with mechanical trouble, and Richard Fair of Cork lost a lot of time and withdrew.
