Johnston title hopes suffer a blow

Editorial Department • Published 10 Jun 2010 16:00 0 Comments

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Raymond Johnston in sideways action during the Mourne Rally but his Group N title bid suffered a blow when he failed to finish.

Raymond Johnston's hopes of securing a first ever Group N Northern Ireland Stage Rally Championship were dealt another blow on Saturday when he crashed out of the Modern Tyres backed Mourne Rally on the final stage.

In contrast Johnny Leonard continued his domination of class one, once again taking maximum points to strengthen his grip at the top of the championship standings, while Derrygonnelly's Kris Farrell maintained his points scoring record in his debut season.

After the opening stage of the event Raymond and co-driver Raymond Bell were well placed in Group N behind the similar Mitsubishi of early pace setter John McGlaughlin, but the Ballinamallard was not entirely happy with the set up of his car and Mark Donnelly edged past his class rival on stage two. The opening service gave Raymond an opportunity to stiffen the suspension of the car, and he maintained his third position despite a spin on the sixth stage. Brendan McComiskey was closing the gap steadily however, and with one stage remaining only five seconds separated the Mitsubishis. Two miles from the end of the final stage Raymond's rally came to an abrupt halt when he slid off the road and into retirement.

Johnny Leonard and Jackie Donaldson have had a virtually faultless season, and they continued their run of good form with yet another class win. The local pair have been locked in a season long battle with Stephen Wright and there was nothing to separate the two after the first stage of the Championship's fifth round. Stage two proved decisive however, and when Wright did not emerge from the test Johnny was never seriously threatened for the rest of the rally, eventually taking the class victory with minutes to spare.

Kris Farrell and Ashley Boulton looked set for fourth in class three, but dropped a place on the final stage and had to be content with fifth in class, while Enniskillen co-driver Stephen Griffiths threatened was threatening to beak int the top ten alongside Norman Armstrong before a broken half shaft on stage six brought their participation to an end.

The next round of the championship is the Dogleap Rally in August, but local attention now turns to the Donegal International Rally in just over a weeks time. Alastair Fisher will be hoping to continue his run of three consecutive top four finishes in the Irish Tarmac Championship, but Garry Jennings faces an anxious wait to see if he can even make the start ramp. The Ballinamallard driver was late submitting his entry for the event, and sits at number 14 on the reserve list, leaving him to rely on more than a dozen drivers withdrawing their entry before the rally start next Friday.

This article appeared in Impartial Reporter 10 Jun 10

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