Motorsport: James leads in Wexford

Local hero David James, in his BDX engined Ford Escort, is on course to win a rally in his own locality after two missed opportunities.

He was fastest on the first of three runs on the Crosbie Cedars Hotel Wexford Rally and takes a three second lead over fellow Escort driver, Philip Shaw from Northern Ireland.

Tipperary driver Jimmy Lambert, who lost some time with tyre problems, occupies third place, eight seconds off the rally leader, James.

John Nolan, in another Escort, fills fourth place - a second behind Lambert.

Local drivers Thomas O'Rourke (Astra) and Eamonn Murphy (Escort) are next on the leaderboard with Garry Jennings, in his Peugeot Super 106 completing the top seven.

Early retirements include William Carroll (Escort Cosworth) and Willie O'Dwyer (Metro 6R4).

Trevor Molloy (Mitsubishi), one of the top Group N entries, was a non-starter.

Meanwhile, Warrenpoint driver, Michael Aiken was detained in hospital overnight as a result of injuries sustained when his Group N Subaru rolled during the Team Challenge at Kirkistown yesterday.

When the car landed on its roof, the roll cage crushed down on Aiken's helmet and he was trapped inside the car but was eventually freed by the rescue services.

He was taken to hospital as a precaution and was released earlier today.

The event was won by the Wild Geese team captained by Wesley Patterson.

They finished with a total of 266 points. The MD Rally Team, captain by Paul Spence were second with a score of 259 points and the GLF team led by Keith White were third on 241 points.