Crawley Down race ace Craig Rainer was named 'Driver of the Day' following another good showing in the latest round of the Ford Saloon Car Challenge at Mondello Park in Ireland.

Rainer and the Wealden Racing Team claimed first and second in class from the two races and in doing so cut the lead held by Class B leader Tim Watson.

Rainer, the 31-year-old reigning class champion, was hoping for a good qualifying time but things did not go according to plan as he only managed to qualify fifth overall and third in class behind Watson.

In the first race, Rainer made a blinding start and shot by Watson to reach the first corner in fourth place, second in class.

A battle then ensued with Watson climbing all overs Rainer's tail for the next five laps until the Sussex made a move on Malcolm Wise's Class A Saphire to take third place and put some breathing space between him and Watson.

Rainer was now chasing class leader, newcomer Steve Dillon in his MK1 Cosworth Escort. Try as he might he did not manage to catch Dillon and had to settle for third overall, second in class.

The second race saw Rainer starting on the second row of the grid. Another electric start saw him beat Dillon into the first corner, taking third overall.

Again he had Wise to catch and did so on lap three down the start/finish straight. Now second overall and first in class, Rainer had to drive the most defensive race of his career, holding off Dillon for the next seven laps despite a lot of pressure.

The race was stopped by an incident on lap ten and Rainer took the chequered flag as first in class and second overall.

His superb driving earned him his second top driver award of the season and gained him several badly needed points over rival Watson. The next race is at Oulton Park on July 28.

HAILSHAM'S Rick Lemmon is still running third in the VSR Challenge.

Lemmon has changed the body shape to that of a Toyota Aventis, which is quite a move to make mid season.

However, he said: "Changing halfway through the season is awkward but it is working out well.

"We are doing more testing with it, which will help."

In his last outing, Lemmon failed to score any points following a 130mph crash.

He hopes for better luck in the next round of the series at Donington Park on July 28.