Murray, the winner in 2002 and 2003. left the class for a few years and last year had a spell in the F2 Stock Cars.

Atrocious conditions prevailed through the night and pre-race favourite Ben McKee was nicely placed on pole position.

The defending champion Mervyn Emerson was on the outside of the front row while Murray and Colin McEvoy were placed on row two.

When the green flag was finally waved McKee shot into the lead followed by Murray with Emerson slotting into third.

There was plenty of action behind as Gareth Sloane, McEvoy, Gilmore, Wayne Hewitt, Geff Hearst and Jeff Anderson were all changing places continually.

Adrian McKinstry spun out and the race was stopped to get his car removed from the racing line. At the restart McKee still kept in front but Murray was find the conditions to his liking and soon pushed himself into the lead. McKee was knocked out of his stride as Gilmore got the better of him for second.

Gilmore was soon under attack from McKee who soon slipped back into second. Gilmore fell back to fifth and Emerson was demoted to fourth when Hewitt sped past him. At the front Murray was the master of the wet track pulling out over a quarter of a lap on McKee.

Gilmore swiftly took Emerson and went on to challenge Hewitt which ended with Hewitt being spun out into the centre. In the final few laps Murray stretched his lead over McKee to romp home to his third Irish win. McKee had to settle for the runner up spot while Gilmore was a surprise and worthy third. Paul Nesbitt left it late to claim fourth after disposing of Emerson who recovered to finish fifth . Hewitt, Willie Young, Stuart McClennaghan and Davy Wilson were the only other finishers.

IRISH JUNIOR PRODUCTION CAR CHAMPIONSHIP

Brendan McConnell was in top form to lift the coveted Irish Junior Production Car Championship at Nutts Corner Oval.

The title has slipped from his grasp on a couple of other years but a fine drive this time around netted him the big one. His dominance through the season had gained him pole position from Derek McMillan in only his first year in the class.

The other two fancied drivers Chris Hamill and Marc Logan were on the second row.

At the off McConnell dashed into the lead with Logan and McMillan in tow. McConnell held his nerve as he steadily opened up a gap over the chasing pack. Logan was under pressure from McMillan and after a few laps McMillan edged past to try to pull back some leeway on McConnell.

Hamill who had a bad start settled down and moved past Logan for third. Kyle Beattie didn’t give up and was knocking on the bumper of Logan and after a good battle found himself in fourth.