Leonard sets sights

Press, 27 May 1978, Page 56

Leonard sets sights

Leo Leonard, the fast Timaru driver, will be chasing Australasia’s richest-ever first prize for a motor race when he competes in the annual Rothmans 500 km tour-ing-car event at Oran Park, Sydney, next Sunday. Total prize money for the event is $50,000, with $20,000 going to the winner. Leonard will share a Ford Falcon GT XC in the race with the ex-Timaru driver, Gary Sprague, who now lives in Tauranga. The two drivers have forged a winning combination, proved by their four wins in Chargers in the Benson and Hedges race at Pukekohe. Last year Leonard shared a Falcon in the Rothmans race with a leading Australian driver, John Goss. They were leading the race by one and a half laps with one hour to go before engine trouble put them out. However, the competition will be much tougher this

year because the big rise in prize money has attracted a top line-up of drivers. The Englishman, Bob Fitzpatrick, will co-drive a potent Holden Torana AX9 hatch-back with the 1976 Bathurst winner, Bob Morris. Another Torana will be driven by the former world champion, Jack Brabham, and his son, Geoffrey, now an improving Formula Three driver in Europe. The Australian Formula One and F5OOO driver, Vern Schuppan, will co-drive a works Falcon with Dick Johnson, of Queensland, and the Italian woman star, Leila Lombardi, will share a Capri with Australia’s top woman driver, Sue Ransom. Leonard said this week that the main threat would come from the Toranas and the works Falcons. Sprague and Leonard recently spent a week testing their new car at Oran Park and found it “reasonably competitive.” So many entries have been received for the rich

race that qualifying races for three days will be necessary. Only the fastest 40 cars will take part in the main event.

The veteran New Zealand driver, Graeme Lawrence, who co-drove a Triumph Dolomite Sprint to win in the under 2-litre class last year, will again drive in the race and the 1977 New Zealand Gold Star champion, Dave McMillan, of Auckland, will co-drive at Torana. The expatriate New Zealander, Jim Richards, will drive a Falcon. The drivers of both the leading Torana and Falcon teams have recently been involved in controversy: Alan Moffat was suspended for a time for using illegal parts in his Falcon’s motors and the leading Torana driver, Peter Brock, currently leading the Australian touringcar championship, was suspended with the rest of the Holden Dealer team for using illegal roll bars at the front of his Torana.