Resident Snapper Paddy McGrath took a visit up to the Carlow Stages Rally which included the MK II Escort Challenge again this year, the entry was spectacular as the photos show

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It was a busy weekend for motorsport championships all round with a number of championships being decided. In a great weekend for Irish motorsport, two Irish pairings won major rally championships in Britain and Italy and a Meath driver is the favourite to take an American racing title. Keith Cronin from Bantry and his Limerick co-driver Greg Shinnors scored their third International win of the year, to clinch the British Rally Championship, the first Irish crew to take the title since the legendary Billy Coleman, 35 years ago.

The 23 year old West Cork driver, the 2007 winner of the Billy Coleman Award for Young Rally Driver of the Year, won three of the six rounds in his Cremins Coaches Mitsubishi Evo 9 and finished second in two more behind three times champion Mark Higgins.