Evans holds clear lead

Motor SportIrish drivers Christopher Evans and Dermot Carnegie are separated by 13 points in the race for the British Rallycross Championship going into round five at Knockhill, Scotland, on Sunday.

Evans, who has dominated the last three rounds at the wheel of his powerful Opel Astra, is well aware the record six-times champion Carnegie is a formidable competitor at the wheel of his Ford Focus turbo.

Any driving error or mechanical trouble could seriously dent his lead if Carnegie has a trouble-free run in the super final. Evans also faces tough competition from the reigning British champion, Pat Doran, and his unlucky Irish compatriot John McCluskey.

Doran will be more than anxious for a change of fortune in a dreadful season that sees him down in eighth in the points standings.

Four Irish drivers continue to lead British motor-racing championships as they compete for more points at Donington in the weekend's two-day meeting.

Dundalk's Niall Breen (175 points) has scored three successive double wins at Mondello Park, Thruxton and Croft, and has a massive 50-point lead over Ross Curnow in Formula BMW, in which Niall Quinn (Dunboyne) heads the rookie class.

With four wins to his credit Patrick Hogan (Killiney) is eight points ahead of Sebastian Hohental in Formula Renault.

There is an intense battle in the Porsche Carrera Cup between the reigning champion, Damien Faulkner (Donegal), and Tim Harvey, who are split by six points in the standings.

New Ross racer James Murphy recently mounted the podium twice in another successful weekend in the FIA GT3 European Championship at Oschersleben near Berlin.

Formula Ford tops the bill at Kirkistown tomorrow, where the Naas-based Dubliner Noel Dunne and the Fermanagh teenager Kris Loane have scored two wins apiece this season. Jim Hutchinson, Alan Lappin, Jamie Patterson, Richard Parsons and Bill Gowdy head up the entry for the Kirkistown Sportscars races.

SATURDAY: 500MRCI, Motor Racing, Kirkistown, Down, 1pm.