Villeneuve turns on style at rose-coloured spectacle

They came in their thousands to see Formula One ace Jacques Villeneuve at yesterday's Rothmans Phoenix Park motor races, and after 16-year-old Helen Monaghan managed to push her way through the milling crowds to present her hero with a bunch of red roses, Villeneuve thrilled the crowds as he blasted around the circuit in an 8-litre Dodge Viper sports car. There were other power demonstrations, including former Formula One drivers Christian Danner and Stefano Modena, who lapped at 100 mph and hit speeds of 168 mph in two very impressive International Touring Car Alfa Romeo 155's.

There was also a parade of exotic Ferrari sports cars in celebration of the 50th Year of the great Italian marque established by the legendary Enzo Ferrari, including a 1961 Ferrari 250GT driven at a sporty pace by Martin Stretton.

And there was motor racing too, from saloons to Formula Ford's and Vees, sports racers and the Rothman Historic Grand Prix, the latter won by Rod Jolly at the wheel of a Cooper-Climax T51.

Mike Wilds and Jeff Wilson had a most entertaining dice in the RJB Sports Car race, swapping places every lap and at the flag it was Wilds in his bright blue Chevron by just 0.2 of a second from Wilson in the Italian Osella.

Quentin Wahl was the day's first winner, in the first Fiat Ritmo race. Neil Shanahan won the Formula Ford 1600 race to further establish himself as the up and coming driver of Irish motor racing. Mark McKenna won the poorly supported Formula Ford Zetec race, with Park veteran Derek Martin Daly a superb second.

Naas racing friends and rivals, Kevin O'Rourke and Hugh Maguire, swept the first two places in the first Formula Vee race, and in the second race Brian Hearty won from Paul Newport and Gerry O'Reilly.

PJ Lawlor won the second Fiat Ritmo race, but the stewards came down heavily on the first five drivers in the Fiat Uno race, disqualifying them on the grounds of `improper' driving.

The controversy followed a tremendously exciting battle between Michael Cullen, Barry Barrable and Karl O'Donoghue. However, the stewards awarded the race to Michael Conway and predictably, the aforementioned trio promptly entered an official protest.

Ed O'Connor in his Renault Clio won the touring car race with Dave Kerrigan second in a Honda Civic, beating the Astras of Gordon Kellett and Rod McGovern. And Jackie Cochrane in his Sunbeam Tiger won his second classic car race of an extremely successful weekend of road racing in the Phoenix Park.