O'Connell makes it a double.

Website office(Wexford)

John Dier

Sunday 30th March

Let's face it, the best way to defend any title in motorsport is from the front. That is exactly what Paul O'Connell has done here in Wexford. Bouyed up by his fastest time from Saturday, albeit with a little luck when Frank Byrnes damaged the Pillbeam, he used his own sniff of lady luck taking the fastest time on Sunday's run.

After blowing the rest of the field away on his first run, a fuel system fire on the second run ended his day. It now remained to be seen if the 45.72" could be beaten. As the day progressed, the times improved. Sure enough, over the two remaining runs, the times did improve, but not by enough. Peter Dwyer did manage to half the almost 3" gap, but O'Connell was able to sit it out it the Paddock and know he had added maximum points to his likewise haul from Saturday.

Peter Dwyer held up local honour by taking second, and nearly 4" of his best time from Saturday, to add to his top five finish from the day before. Simon McKinley and James M Stafford both posted times similar to the previous day and finished in the same order as the day before, except they wer both one place further down the ladder.

David James made an outing in the Focus WRC and almost got the better of Stafford, only 0.11" down on the Clonmines man. Brendan Keane and Rory Stevens took 6th and 7th, with local man, Brendan Harpur taking 8th. He was unfortunate enough to snap a throttle cable on the start line on his first run on Saturday and not give himself enough time to post a good time that day, but he made up for it today. Alan Boggan was a stunning 9th, to add to his brilliant 8th from Saturday, a pair of results which were incredible considering the Nova was surrounded by single seaters and four wheel drives. John Mahon topped off the top ten in the Sheane.

Top 10 Drivers on Sunday

1  Paul O’Connell   (Delta T79 Warrior)  45.72"
2  Peter Dwyer      (Reynard GM FVL)     47.39"
3  Simon McKinley   (Escort)             48.76"
4  James M Stafford (Darrian T90)        49.51"
5  David James      (Focus WRC)          49.62"
6  Brendan Keane    (Magnum Judd 873 F3) 49.82"
7  Rory Stephens    (Radical)            50.72"
8  Brendan Harpur   (Delta T81 Ford)     51.15"
9  Alan Boggan      (Nova)               51.65"
10 John Mahon       (Sheane-Suzuki)      51.99" 

Sunday's full times, overall and by class

JD