YORK golfer Simon Dyson continued to lead the Jakarta HSBC Indonesia Open today having finished yesterday's second round at the top of the leaderboard.

The Malton and Norton GC star strode purposely away from the field in his first four holes, starting with an eagle and then adding two birdies.

He dropped only his second shot in 180 holes at the ninth to see his lead cut in half, but his earlier consistency had seen him move clear of the chasing pack by the half-way stage today.

He was three under par by the tenth hole to move to 13 under for the Emeralda Golf Club tournament, one shot ahead of Australian Andrew Buckle, who was on four under at the 12th tee.

Dyson's fellow overnight leader, Thongchai Jaidee of Thailand - who, like the York ace, had shot a 66 and a 68 in the opening two rounds - slipped two shots behind by the tenth.

Before starting today's round, Dyson admitted the thunderstorm that halted play yesterday had helped his game as he and Jaidee built a one-shot lead over Wales' rejuvenated Stephen Dodd and Taiwanese Wang Ter-chang with their four-under-par rounds of 68.

Dyson is well versed in the fickleness of the weather in the Far East having spent a successful rookie year on the Asian tour in 2000. And the two hours that were lost to the weather, which caused play to be suspended for bad light without round two having been completed, had a positive effect on the 28-year-old.

He said: "I have to admit the rain break helped me. I seemed to find something. I had just pulled a couple of drives previously and then didn't miss a fairway on the front nine.

"When I was off the course I was sat with my mates and it didn't feel like two hours at all. That helps. If you are sat on your own it can feel like four. I hit the ball really well after that so the break definitely helped me."

Dyson is happy with his game as he hunts his first European Tour title to add to the three he won on the Asian Tour in that rookie year. But he stressed he had to maintain his current standard as he faced a possible showdown with Jaidee over the weekend.

"I missed a few putts, but I also holed a couple I didn't expect to get," he said. "I know I could be a couple of shots better off than I am.

"I made one bogey in two days and that was a three-putt. Something is telling me my game is pretty good. I am just going to go into the next couple of days and continue what I have been doing.

"I have played a lot of golf with Thongchai and we seem to feed off each other pretty well. He's a fantastic player, so hopefully he will inspire me and push me along as well."

Updated: 10:19 Saturday, March 04, 2006