PAUL BUTLER of the Cidona club, Carrick-on-Suir, who leaves on Wednesday to join the Catavana team in France, added another win; to his tally yesterday when he beat Brian Quinn of Limerick at the finish of the Kay Strallon memorial race in Blarney. That is two wins and a second from three outings for Butler in the first two weeks of the season.
There were 79 in the line-up for seven laps of 7.7 miles. A group of 10 went ahead soon after the start, but they never succeeded in gaining a worthwhile advantage. On the fourth time around Butler, Kenneally and Ray Clarke bridged the gap across to the leaders and. Butler always looked to have the situation under control. Approaching the finish, he forged ahead with Quinn and he had the edge in the sprint to the line. Kenneally was third, four seconds adrift.
Oliver McQuaid won the Traders Cup handicap at Dundalk, with other veterans Michael Carroll and Brian Holmes second and third. This trio went on out of the limit markers group, and they were clear going out on the last of seven laps of nine miles. Holmes lost contact, and at the finish Carroll could not match McQuaid's final spurt.
The Tour of Malaysia ended back on the island of Langkawi yesterday and Richie McCauley was best of the Irish overall, 28th, five minutes and 11 seconds behind the winner, Damien McDonald of Australia.
McCauley's stage win on Friday made the trip worthwhile for the Irish team, whose best placing apart from that was a fourth by Declan Lonergan. A group of over 60 contested the final sprint, with Tommy Evans 17th and McCauley 22nd. But Lonergan missed out there as he was involved in a crash approaching the final kilometre kite and trailed in 72nd, a minute down.
The eight women in the line-up of 96 in the Mid Eastern Region league race over 48 miles at Dunboyne on Saturday had a handicap allowance of almost 20 minutes and some of them took full advantage. At the finish Helena Kinsella led in Geraldine Gill with Marie Boyle third. Derry McVeigh, who was fourth, was six minutes and 28 seconds in arrears. McGinn's revenge
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