STEPHEN MURPHY won the two opening rounds of the RIAC/Vard Coras National Rally Championship, the Mayo Stages and the Circuit of Kerry. He missed the Monaghan round but returns to the championships scene in defence of his title in Sunday's Springhill Hotel Rally run out of Kilkenny by the Carlow Car Club.
County Carlow's Murphy is effectively on home territory in Round Four and will no doubt set a blistering pace at the wheel of his Statoil Ford Escort RS Cosworth.
Wexford's Eamonn Boland trails Murphy by six points, with Belfast dentist John Gilleece just two points behind Boland. Boland and Gilleece also drive Escort Cosworths, and Gilleece is all fired up after winning in Monaghan at the expense of Boland, who retired on the penultimate stage.
Mickey Farrell of Ardee, championship winner in 94 and runner up last year, is mounting a bid to regain the title and will certainly challenge the Ford trio with his Subaru Legacy. He has a lot of catching up to do from his present sixth position on 18 points.
Norman Armstrong (25 points), Ed Synan (23) and Charlie Donnelly (18) are all entered for Round Four, joined in the two litre battle by David James, Eugene Donnelly, Eugene Ferry, Joe McGurk and Oliver Stanley all driving the evergreen Escort Mk2.
Tom Holton, Eamonn McAleenan and JJ Fleming will rally Escort Cosworths and Metro 6R4s will be driven by Ray Breen and Damien Keenan. Others on the list are John McCluskey (Sierra Cosworth), Des Bruton (Peugeot) and Kevin Barrett (Escort G3).
Martin Withers, Cyril Beattie and Hugh Dunne in Escort Cosworths are the three leading Group N contenders. Brian Murphy (Sunbeam) is chasing another 1600cc class win, on form after finishing sixth overall in Monaghan.
Waiting for the call up on the list of reserves are Paul Harris David Armstrong and John McKeown in Sierra Cosworths Derek McGarrity (Escort) and Anthony O'Halloran (Opel Manta).
The three stages at Castlewarren, Muckalee and Freestone Hill will be done three times. Central service is at Paulstown, between Carl ow and Kilkenny.
Sunday sees the start of the midget car racing championship season, at Sandyford, Co Dublin. The full entry includes Gellar Trophy winner Mandy O'Donoghue, George Horan, Frank O'Connell and John Sheppard. New sponsors this year are Schwarzkopf hairdressing supplies and Pat O'Connor Conveyor Belts.
Big event of the motorcycle drag racing season is the weekend's meeting on the Carrigtwohill by pass road in County Cork. The British entry includes `The Funnybike King of Britain Ian King, Paul Willis, Pete Jones and Dean Williamson.
Last year, Willis did several sub nine second runs, the fastest of which, at 8.662 seconds, represents a speed of 156.80 mph for the standing quarter mile.
Cork's Mel Nolan set a new Irish record of 5.76 seconds for the standing one eight of a mile at Pouladuff, Cork in April. He will also set a sizzling pace over the longer distance on the Lee Motorcycles 1314cc Nitrous Yamaha.
European Grand Prix winner Jacques Villeneuve visits Dublin today for the announcement of Rothmans sponsorship of the IMRC/LMC's Phoenix Park motor races on August 17th/18th.
French Canadian Villeneuve (24) won the Indycar Championship and the famous Indianapolis 500 last year. He has raced right into Formula One, with one win already under his belt, in the European, Grand Prix in Nuerburgring.
Villeneuve was unlucky to pick up a puncture on the first lap of the recent San Marino Grand Prix, scoring no points. After the first five races, he has amassed 22 points and is second to Hill, who has 43 points, in the World Championship.
Jacques Villeneuve's father, Gilles, won six Grands Prix during a relatively short but meteoric Formula One career, between 1978 and 1981. He was only 30 when he was killed during qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix in 1982.
