Lively Irish presence in Macau Grand Prix

A trio of top Irish racing motorcyclists, Joey Dunlop, Phillip McCallen and James Courtney, and Formula Three champion driver Johnny Kane of Comber compete in Macau, the Portuguese colony of China, this weekend in the colourful Asian festival of speed on two wheels and four.

McCallen from Tandragee, Co Armagh, won the 43rd Macau Grand Prix on the daunting Guia street-cum-road circuit last year. He won four Isle of Man TT races in '96, but he had mixed luck on the island this year when he won the Formula One and Senior races and was fortunate to escape serious injury when he crashed his 250 cc Honda at around 120 mph.

McCallen returns to Macau to race one of Joe Millar's grand prix Yamaha 500cc machines. Fellow Ulsterman Courtney, with a great Irish road racing record, makes his Macau debut on another Millar Yamaha.

Dunlop, winner of a record 22 Isle of Man TT's, will race a Honda RS500 v-twin grand prix bike, which should clock speeds up to 180 mph on the waterfront straights of the circuit.

Competition for the Irish riders will come from World Endurance racing champion Juan Eric Gomez and British superbike stars Michael Rutter and Roger Bennett.

The Schumacher brothers, Michael and Ralf of Forumla One fame, have each won the Macau Grand Prix for Formula Three cars. Kane (24) of Comber is one of the favourites for this year's prestigious race. He has won the 1997 British Championship driving for Paul Stewart Racing. Victory at Macau would be a big boost for Kane in his quest to race in the European Formula 3000 Championship next year, and possibly do some Formula One testing. JJ Farrell on 162 points leads Christopher Evans (153), Eamonn Byrne (148), Chris Grimes and Dermot Carnegie (125 each) and Peter Grimes and Liam Cashman (123 each) in the RIAC/Hewison Trophy Autotest Championship. The next round is at Carlow on Sunday.

Carrick-on-Suir Motor Club celebrate 40 years of motorsport this year, of which one of the feature events is the weekend's Willie Loughman Memorial Forestry Rally. Tomorrow's 3x2 stages, over 21 miles, will be run in darkness with a starting time of 5 pm. The Sunday start is at 10.30 am and will consist of another 3x2 stages over the longer distance of 45 miles.

Dermot Kelly leads the RIAC National Forest Rally Championship after two rounds, and prior to the weekend's third round. The points standings are: 1, Dermot Kelly 30; 2, Dominic McNeill 27; 3, John McKeown 24; 4, Paul Staunton 22; 5, Roy Haslett 21; 6, Noel Driver 19. Co-drivers: 1, Kevin Casey 30; 2, Martin Carey 27; 3, Padraig Barry 24; 4, Bruce Burgess 22; 5, Mike Gaston 21; 6, Nigel Shanahan 14.

Tomorrow sees the mud pluggers competing in the MEC Sporting Trial at a new venue, Russelltown, near Blessington. The Ards MCC's Turner Trophy Trial near Ballynahinch, Co Down, tomorrow is the 10th round of the Irish Trials Championship.