SWORDS driver Robert Barrable (Skoda Fabia S2000)held off the spirited challenge of Midleton’s Daragh O’Riordan (Subaru WRC) to take an 11 second victory in the Sligo Park Hotel Rally, round six of the Dunlop National Rally Championship.

WITH victory in the opening two rounds of the Valvoline Irish Forest Rally Championship, Cork driver Owen Murphy aims to continue the trend in Sunday’s third round, the Lismore-based Munster Moonraker Forest Rally.

REIGNING Dunlop National Rally champion, Mel Evans and current Irish Tarmac championship leader, Tim McNulty, both in Subaru WRCs, go head to head in Sunday’s opening round of the Dunlop series, the Abbeyleix Manor Hotel Rally that also marks the beginning of the Top Part West Coast Rally series.

DEREK McGARRITY could be forgiven for having a sense of déjà vu this weekend as he goes from one circuit to another.

SEVERAL championships unfold over the weekend against a backdrop of well-subscribed entries. The Dunlop National Rally Championship curtain-raiser, the Abbey Court Hotel Nenagh Rally that also counts towards the Top Part West Coast Championship and the Dunlop Junior Championship, has attracted over 150 crews.

Irish pair, Keith Cronin (Cork) and his Limerick co-driver, Greg Shinnors (Mitsubishi) have won the British Rally Championship triumphing on the final round, the International Rally Yorkshire.

MOTORSPORT Ireland have stepped up their involvement in Rally Ireland and will actually promote the 2009 event that will kick start the World Rally Championship in late January. However, funding for the event has yet to be put in place.

THE Show Jumping Association of Ireland’s (SJAI) Premier Series will go ahead again next year, though a new sponsor is in the pipeline.

Marcus Gronholm’s participation in the Galway International Rally, the opening round of the Global Group Irish Tarmac Championship, was to gain experience of the Irish roads ahead of next November’s Rally Ireland.

BMW secured their first triumph of the 2007 Dakar Rally after Qatari driver Nasser Al Attiyah surged to victory on the 10th stage in Mauritania.

FORMER world champion Carlos Sainz reclaimed the lead of the Dakar Rally as Mitsubishi’s bid for a sixth consecutive win hit the skids.

Entering the final four stages, Eugene Donnelly in his Toyota Corolla WRC has regained the lead in the Galway International Rally,

British Rally champion Jonny Milner leads Ulsterman Kenny McKinstry by 1min 52secs in the Gibbs Aquada Manx International Rally with seven stages and 65 miles of competitive driving before this afternoon’s finish in Douglas.

British Rally champion Jonny Milner comfortably leads Kenny McKinstry in the Gibbs Aquada Manx International Rally two-thirds of the way through the three-day Isle of Man event.

CONTAINING some of the most daunting stages in Irish rallying, this weekend’s Ordnance Survey Ireland/ Gleneagle Hotel co-sponsored Killarney International Rally of the Lakes, has several potential winners.

CELEBRATING a century of involvement in Irish Motorsport, Dunlop is again supporting the National Rally Championship that begins in Ballina on Sunday.

IRISH rallying is set to have a Rallies Council following yesterday’s meeting at the Green Isle Hotel, Dublin, where officials from clubs all over the country and other delegates met to discuss several aspects of the sport.

Entering the final three stages of the West 2002 International Rally, Eugene Donnelly and co-driver,

MOTIVATION is not an issue for Andrew Nesbitt ahead of the Murphy Construction Cork “20” International Rally that is set to yield the Armagh ace his second Toshiba Computers Irish Tarmac Championship title.

Aiming to win the Group N category of the Belgian Rally Championship, Tipperary driver, Roy White, co-driven by Northern Ireland's, Michael Patterson lies third in the category after three of today's ten stages of the Condroz Rally.