ath hostap - long delays between wifi clients via ath AP

Hi

I've been playing with ath hostap mode today when I noticed someting very 
strange. Ping delays are very high (100 - 200ms) between two wifi clients 
connected to the same ath hostap AP, but if I ping the hostap AP itself, the 
delays are fine (1.7ms - 11b mode).

Here is my setup:

client 1 ------------ ath hostap AP ------------- client 2

I have tried various configs and combinations, all with the same result:
- hostap in 11g mode
- hostap in 11b mode
- ath clients
- wi (lucent) clients
- hostap with 5.3-BETA6 , HAL 0.9.6.3
- hostap with 5.3-BETA7 , HAL 0.9.6.3
- hostap with 5.3-BETA4 , HAL 0.9.11.6 , net80211+ath-20040818.patch
- Senao 5354 minipci with atheros 5212
- Dlink DWL-AG520 with atheros 5212
- hostap with wi (Intersil - actiontec minipci) - works fine, no problem

If I add another subnet (alias) to the ath interface and I route between the 
clients then it works fine. The problem is only between clients on the same 
subnet working through an ath hostap AP. Is bridging done inside the HAL ?

Are there any one else using an ath hostap AP that can do a ping test between 
two clients to see if they get the same results.

Johann Hugo