irishcar.com

3 July 2002: Glanmire's Alan Dwyer took his third victory of the season in the sixth round of the Ford of Ireland Formula Ford Zetec Championship last Sunday at a rain-soaked Mondello Park, beating on-form veteran Derek Daly (Castleknock).

It was another veteran, George McAlpin (Portrush), who took his Mygale SJ02 to pole position during Sunday morning's qualifying session to head Paul Dagg (Drogheda) by a full second. Naas driver, Charlie Donnelly, was third on the grid from Dwyer.

At the start of the eight-lap race, run in very damp conditions, there was a massive scrap for the lead, Dwyer emerging from Hewlett Packard in first before pulling away from Dagg. Dublin's John Gunning forged his way into third place with McAlpin next in line and Stephen Daly (Sallins) in fifth.

Donnelly had lost out in the initial charge and had to make his way back up the field and by the third lap was into fifth place behind Derek Daly. A lap later and Charlie had passed Derek and had his sights set on fourth place McAlpin, but this battle became a four-way dice with the Dalys, Derek and Stephen, in close contention and all looking for the right place to get through.

As they rounded Dunlop for the fourth time, it was all unbearably close, the quartet thundering down the home straight together and vying for position. Stephen D and Donnelly had a huge coming together at Hewlett Packard, which left both cars a tangled mess, and Daly's Mygale SJ97 minus three corners.

Gunning's fine run also ended, the Vector MG02 driver running aground at Holidays in Ireland bend while the safety car came out on recovery duty. This left the order as Dwyer clear of Dagg, Derek D, McAlpin, Cindy Evans (Dublin) and Shane Dalgetty (Kildangan) with three laps to go.

On the last lap, Daly just got the better of Dagg in the run to the flag, Dwyer having taken a comfortable third victory in the series. McAlpin finished fourth from Dalgetty and Evans.

Former champion, Dagg still holds the championship lead with 69 points from Dwyer who is back up to second place with 63. The series returns to Mondello Park on August 11 for round seven.