Southeast pair coast to rally win
MOTORSPORT: the Wexford-Waterford combination of Eamonn Boland and Damien Morrissey yesterday coasted to a comfortable win in the Ordnance Survey Ireland International Rally of the Lakes based in Killarney, giving them a clear lead in the Global Group Irish Tarmac Championship.
Their NVD Subaru Impreza started the day with a lead of just ten seconds, but their two main rivals both crashed out during the nine stages, leaving the pair with a winning margin of three minutes.
Overnight, their nearest challengers were Gareth MacHale and Craig Parry, and the Dubliner's Focus halved Boland's lead on the opening stage, Moll's Gap, with the two contenders swapping times all through the next three stages, when the gap was down to 3.8 seconds. However, MacHale misjudged a corner on Caragh Lake and that was the end of his rally.
Monaghan pair Dessie Keenan and Enda Sherry were third overall in their Impreza, but the hero of the weekend was last year's rally winner Kris Meeke, who drove a two-wheel-drive, 1.6 litre Renault Clio to fifth overall despite losing time with a puncture.
Carroll steers Irish to sixth place
Adam Carroll drove the Belmayne A1 Team Ireland car to third in the Sprint race at Brands Hatch, the final meeting of the A1 Grand Prix series.
Later, in the feature race, Carroll again held an early third position until an incident with the eventual winner, Narain Karthikeyan of India, damaged his front wing and forced him to make an extra pitstop, leaving him down the field at the finish although the Irishman did set the fastest lap of the race. The Irish team finished sixth in the championship points table.
Irish at home on the big stage
CYCLING: Irish professionals recorded more good performances on the continent at the weekend. Sean Kelly's Irish Pro Team took fourth overall at the three day, 2.2 ranked Vuelta Ciclista a Acencion in Spain with their English rider Daniel Lloyd. The squad also took first and second on the opening stage with Benny De Schrooder and Dan Fleeman respectively.
Ciaran Power of the Galway based Pezula team carried over the form that saw him win last week's East Midlands CiCLE classic in the UK, when he took eighth at the Ronde van Overijsse in Holland. Sean Kelly's squad also kept the flag flying, with An Post's Paidi O'Brien finishing two places behind the Waterford pro in the 1.2 ranked, 210km race, won in a bunch sprint by 19-year-old Robin Chagneau (Asito-Lowik) from Dutch sprinters Bobbie Traksel (P3-Transfer) and Tom Veelers (Skil-Shimano).
Nadal invincible yet again on clay
TENNIS: Rafael Nadal claimed his fourth consecutive title at the Open Sabadell Atlantico with a 6-1 4-6 6-1 victory over Spanish compatriot David Ferrer on Sunday.
The result ensures a second trophy of the year for Nadal, both on clay. Last week, the world number two beat great rival Roger Federer in the final of the Monte Carlo Masters.
De La Hoya ready
for Mayweather
bOXING: Oscar De La Hoya dominated Steve Forbes to win a unanimous decision in a 12-round non-title bout in Los Angeles.
In his first bout in nearly a year, the 35-year-old outclassed his opponent, winning decisively on the judges' scorecards -- 119-109, 119-109 and 120-108 -- to improve his record to 39-5 with 30 knockouts.
He is now set to face Floyd Mayweather Jr on September 20 in a rematch of their bout last May, which Mayweather won on a split decision.
