MOTORSPORT: Ken Fildes leads Dan Daly by one point in Formula Libre racing as the friendly rivals line up for two more championship races on Sunday at Mondello.
The revival of Formula Libre (free-for-all) is the best thing in Irish motor racing for years, bringing back fast and exciting racing cars to thrill the crowds.
Daly and Robert Copeland will again drive their Formula 3000 cars; veteran Fildes still has that fine competitive edge to win races at the wheel of his Formula Atlantic Ralt; and hill-climb specialist Michael Roche will be in his Mygale Turbo. The 20-car field will also feature some very quick Radical sports cars and eight Leastone Formula 5s.
In Dunlop Supercars, Rod McGovern on 102 points has a 14-point lead over David O'Brien (88), while John Whelan (87) has slipped from first to third.
With two championship races on the programme, more Supercars excitement is ensured.
There is further saloon action on the varied menu: the Dunlop Fiat Abarth Cup, in which Derek Graham (104) leads Quentin Smith (78) and Gordon Kellett (62) in the points standings.
Races for Porsches, Fiats (Punto and Uno) and historics are also listed. Racing is from 11.20am, and the first Formula Libre race starts at 2pm.
John McCarthy, on 79 points, leads Brian Gillin (66), Kevin O'Kane (58) and Stephen Moore (54) in the National Forestry Rally Championship. He faces particularly strong weekend competition in the torrid heat and dust of the off-road tracks from Glenn Allen, Kevin Lynch, Gillin, Moore, O'Kane, Trevor Harding, James Murphy and Adrian McElvaney in the two-day Cork Forestry Stages, which has attracted 112 entries. Tomorrow's stages are in the Mallow area and Sunday's are in the Ballyhoura forests.
In the first news releases and subsequent reports of the granting of WRC status for Rally Ireland in 2007, the dates given - November 18th-20th - were incorrect. The event will be run on November 16th-18th.
WEEKEND FIXTURES
Saturday: Cork MC, Forestry Stages Rally, starts Commons Inn, New Mallow Road, 10am.
Sunday: Cork MC, Forestry Stages Rally, restarts Commons Inn, Cork, 8.45am; Castle AC, Rallysprint, Carrick, Virginia, Co Cavan, 10.30am; IMRC, Motor Racing, Mondello Park, 11.20am; Limerick MC, Autotest, Newcastle West, noon; Southern KC, Kart Racing, Watergrasshill, Co Cork, noon; MRCCI, Midget Car Racing, Bohernabreena, Co Dublin, 2pm.
