O’Brien brothers hoping for a five star performance

IT almost goes without saying that Patrick O’Brien is the man to beat during this weekend’s McKelvey Construction Bushwhacker Rally.

The Mountfield man, who will once again have his brother Stephen on the notes, is going for a fifth victory in a row during the fabled event, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2025.

Having won the last four Buswhackers hasn’t dulled O’Brien’s interest in the event, so much so that he has again made his annual pilgrimage back from Perth in Western Australia to defend his crown.

And he showed upon his arrival back in Ireland that he had lost none of his pace, guiding his now ageing R5 Skoda Fabia to a third successive Lakeland Stages Rally win.

There’s quite a bit at stake for the O’Brien’s this weekend, which will once again be treated as ‘a family thing’ given their connection to the event when Patrick can equal Robbie McGurk’s record of consecutive wins, five – although he’s still short of McGurk’s overall record of eight wins as driver and one as co-driver – while Stephen can tie Omagh’s Tony Kearns as the event’s most successful co-driver with five wins.

“The Bushwhacker means a lot,” the former Irish Forest Rally Champion admitted. “We’ve won it a few times now and with Dad winning it, it’s kind of like a family thing so we can’t wait to go again.

“We know Tony [Kearns] quite and well, my Dad used to sit with Tony as well, so it’s all sort of connected. Stevie’s mad looking to equal Tony’s record, so hopefully we can do it.”

Last year, the O’Brien brothers sealed victory by less than a second from Dromore’s Cathan McCourt, who was again a close second to them at the Lakeland Stages two weeks ago and with their rivals driving fresher cars, Patrick is taking nothing for granted.

“I can’t wait to get going but it’s going to be hard against all the boys with new cars. It means it’s going to be difficult, but we’ll give it a go,” he added. “Cathan won’t be too far away, I’d have thought. He’ll be close.”

And while McCourt admits he’d love to get one over the O’Brien’s, the event’s second seed admits that’s easier said than done.

“We’ve been trying these few years . It would be good to get one over the line but [Patrick O’Brien] is hard to beat,” he explained.

Number three on the road this year will be Victoria Bridge’s Jason Mitchell who suffered a disaster at the Lakeland Stages, crashing out on stage one which meant he had to put on hold his Irish Forest Rally Championship title celebrations for a fortnight.

And with that being his main goal this weekend, he feels he won’t be pushing McCourt and the O’Brien’s at the top of the time sheets this weekend.

“It’s been my goal [to win the Bushwhacker] ever since I started rallying but unfortunately last week’s mess will probably rule me out of [contention] this year because I have to look after the Championship,” he said.

The top three aren’t the only drivers capable of winning this weekend’s rally, which will feature night stages today [Friday] before the main action takes place on Saturday, with Ballygawley’s Vivian Hamill, Omagh pair Niall McCullagh and Gareth Mimnagh, Ferek Mackarel, Pettigo’s Kevin Eve’s, Dromore’s Conor McCourt and Sion Mills’ Darragh Cairns rounding out the top 10 seeds, while even further down the order, it’s hard to rule out a challenge coming from Drumquin’s Stephen Dickson, David Kelly, Aaron McLaughlin, Jordan Hone, Dunamanagh’s Paul Britton and former winner, Strabane’s Martin Cairns.

Meanwhile, also entering the event and making his debut as a rally driver is Toyota’s World Rally Championship co-driver, Fintona’s Aaron Johnston, who will compete in a Toyota Starlet, while Fivemiletown Rally sponsor, Martynas Samsonas has travelled over from Lithuania to battle the two-wheel-drive stars like Fivemiletown’s Shane McGirr, Donegal’s Sam Stewart, Carrickmore’s Donall Sweeney, Monaghan’s David Crossen, Omagh’s Alan Smyth, Clanabogan’s Paul Barrett and Dromore’s Hugh McQuaid.

And for those interested in past glories, the event’s most successful ever competitor, Robbie McGurk, and four-time winner Hugh O’Brien will drive their Opel Manta and Ford Escort, respectively during demonstration runs on Friday and Saturday.

For more information, see Omagh Motor Club’s Facebook page and for full entries, visit Rallyscore.net.