Leonard strengthens position in class one

Editorial Department • Published 13 May 2010 10:14 0 Comments

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Jonny Leonard and Jackie Donaldson on their way to victory at the Monaghan Stages Rally. They followed this up with a third consecutive class win at the Tour of Sperrin rally last Saturday. Photo by James Burke Photography.

Raymond Johnston has slipped to third in Group N in the Northern Ireland Rally Championship following his third place finish on last Saturday's Tour of the Sperrins rally. It was a similar story for Derrygonnelly Kris Farrell who fell from the lead of class three, but Jonny Leonard upheld local honours with yet another class win to strengthen his position at the head of class one.

Going into the fourth round of the series Ballinamallard's Raymond Johnston, co-driven by Rodney Hicks, trailed the Group N leader by only three points despite his non finish on the Circuit of Ireland. Victory would have dragged him back into the lead of the class and left him in a very strong position as the series approaches the half way point, and after three stages he appeared on course for maximum points, leading the class by four seconds from Mark Donnelly. Tyre grip was proving problematic however on the dry tarmac, and with less grip than he would have liked he found himself slipping back into the clutches of the chasing pack. A poor time on each of the last two stages saw him fall behind both Mark Donnelly and Cyril Doherty, and he had to be content with third in class and eleventh overall.

Jonny Leonard and Jackie Donaldson went into the event high on confidence having secured maximum points in each of the preceding two rounds, and they stretched their championship lead with a third consecutive class win.

Kris Farrell also went into the rally leading his class in the championship, but a fraught event meant he could only finish fifth and has fallen a point behind the pacesetter in class three.

Elsewhere, Barry McNulty was back in action alongside reigning British Rally Champion Keith Cronin.

The pair were competing on the Manx National Rally, primarily as a test session for the upcoming tarmac rounds of the British Championship, and were lying second overall before crashing out on the penultimate stage.

This article appeared in Impartial Reporter 13 May 10

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