Rally contenders face final showdown in Cork

This weekend's Cork 20 is the last big Irish rally of the year and the final round of the Tarmac Championship

This weekend's Cork 20 is the last big Irish rally of the year and the final round of the Tarmac Championship. The top contenders are entered, with the exception of Eamonn Boland (third on 30 points). As the results of the Donegal International are up in the air over an appeal, the championship points based on three rounds (i.e. Galway, Circuit Ireland and Rally of the Lakes) are: Ian Greer (37), Bertie Fisher (36) and Andrew Nesbitt (28). The Group N battle will be between Eugene Meegan and Seamus Leonard, both driving Mitsubishi Lancer Evo.5s and separated by nine points.

The top ten seeds are: 1, Greer (Toyota Celica); 2, Fisher and 3, Nesbitt in Subaru Imprezas; 4, Frank Meagher and 5, Stephen Murphy in Escort WRCs; 6, Paul Harris (Impreza); 8, Bob Fowden (Escort Cosworth); 9, Hugh Martin Doherty (BMW); 10, David Greer (Celica). No 7 has been left open for a possible late entry or an upgrade.

Oliver O'Donovan (Escort) is the Formula Two winner in the tarmac series. In the Yokohama Southern four series, Denis Cronin (BMW) on 47 points leads Eamonn Boland (40) and 2.4 Escort driver Donie Sullivan (38). Sunday's Mondello meeting brings down the curtain on the Irish motor racing season. Although this is usually considered a fun-day, with no emphasis on "serious" racing, the punters are in for a treat in the form of a demonstration of two racing Honda saloons, second in the British Touring Car Championship, driven by James Thompson and Peter Kox.