50th anniversary Bushwhacker one to remember for O’Brien brothers

OMAGH Motor Club’s 50th anniversary McKelvey Construction Bushwhacker Rally will live long in the memory of the participants and spectators, particularly Mountfield brothers, Patrick and Stephen O’Brien, who won the event for a fifth successive year, and Victoria Bridge’s Jason Mitchell, who was crowned Irish Forest Rally Champion at the event’s conclusion on Saturday afternoon.

Featuring four spectacular nigh stages on Friday night, followed by a further six tests the following day, an anticipated titanic tussle between the O’Brien’s and Dromore’s Cathan McCourt never really materialised.

They had been separated by less than a second in 2024 and by just over five seconds at the Lakeland Stages Rally two weeks later, but during the Bushwhacker the O’Brien’s nailed their colours to the mast early and they proved there to stay.

The opening Lough Bradan test saw the O’Brien’s R5 Skoda Fabia lead McCourt’s older brother Conor by almost nine seconds, with Cathan 10.6 seconds adrift and while the younger of the Dromore men pulled that gap back to 7.9 seconds over the Killeter stage it was back up to over 11 seconds after Carrickaholten.

The first night’s action ended with a second run over Lough Bradan and the O’Briens went into Saturday with a 12.7 second advantage which they grew over the first five stages to sit 23.7 seconds to the good with one test remaining, which was a reversed run over Lough Bradan.

In the end, Cathan McCourt and co-driver Barry McNulty retired with a bent wheel on their Rally2 Fabia during that run, leaving Conor McCourt in second place in a similar machine almost two minutes adrift of the O’Briens, who were delighted to not only seal the win, but tie Robbie McGurk’s record of five victories in a row and Tony Kearns’ accolade of being the event’s most successful ever co-driver with five wins.

“It worked out well!,” Patrick beamed. “We were leading after the first stage and after that it was a case of managing it – you don’t need to go too mad!

“It’s pretty cool [to do five in a row]. We didn’t think a wild pile about it. We just took it as another rally but once it was done it’s a bit surreal and it’s cool to see Stevie as the best of the navigators!

“It’s pretty cool to get it on the 50th with pretty big hype about it and to win it pretty convincingly too was pretty cool.”

Looking ahead, Patrick confirmed he’ll definitely be returning from his base in Perth, Western Australia to go for six in a row next September and he admits he hasn’t ruled out chasing down McGurk’s record of eight wins as a driver [the Omagh man also won once as a co-driver]/

“I was asking Robbie and he was saying the first time he won it he was in his thirties so I have five of them and I’m not 30 year, so we’ll give it a go – maybe!,” he laughed.

The podium proved a Tyrone lockout with Sion Mills ace Darragh Cairns and co-driver Mark Preston finishing third in their Volkswagen Polo, followed by Omagh’s Gareth Mimnagh, David Kelly, Omagh’s Niall McCullagh, Jordan Hone and Mitchell, alongside co-driver Paddy McCrudden, who were crowned Irish champions after sealing eighth overall.

And while thrilled to have achieved his aim of winning the national title in 2025, Mitchell admits it was a little bittersweet on Saturday as if he’d won it at the Lakelands, he could have given the Bushwhacker a bigger push.

“It feels good! That was the plan at the start of the season so it’s nice to have it now. When you’ve done the season at it, it’s nice to finish the job off,” he said.

“We made a bit of a hash of it [at the Lakeland Stages, crashing out on stage one] but that was tough, trying to keep the head sensible at the weekend, ensuring we did the job. We had to get to the front and then ensure we didn’t have any mechanical issues or punctures – it was about keeping her in the middle of the road and get through the rally.

“That is extremely hard but it was a job we had to do and one we should have done at the Lakelands. I had to take the sensible approach and I’m glad to get it done.

“It was extremely tough because the Bushwhacker is the one I like to go and push and it’s the rally I have the most knowledge of so it’s probably the hardest one to go easy on because I want it so much and I have knowledge of it.

“From my own point of view I wanted to get something from rallying that I can remember and my own wins have been great but a championship takes a season’s effort, so it’s good to get that off the bucket list.”

Rounding out the top 10 at the weekend were Brendan Cumiskey and Derek Mackarel, who were followed by a host of local talent, including Donemana’s Niall Devine, Drumquin’s Stephen Dickson, Castlederg’s Darren McKelvey and Strabane’s Martin Cairns, who were 11th to 14th respectively.

Lithuania’s Martynas Samsonas, who sponsors Omagh’s Fivemiletown Rally, won the two wheel-drive section in his BMW M3, taking 15th overall ahead of Drumquin’s Ian Dickson Carrickmore’s Donall Sweeney, who was second two-wheel-drive, and Drumquin’s Ashley Dickson, while Monaghan’s David Crossen and Clanabogan’s Paul Barrett, who was co-driven by Omagh’s Gordon Noble, rounded out the top 20.

In the classes, Pomeroy’s Stephen Moore won class two, Samosonas won class three from Fivemiletown’s Shane McGirr, who won the Irish Championship two-wheel-drive event, while Drumquin’s Alan Smyth was third.

Belcoo’s Dominic Leonard won class four, Convoy’s Jack Harris won class five, Sweeney won class six from Sam Stewart, with Pomeroy’s Raymond Doyle third.

Letterkenny’s Oran McNulty won class eight from Ian Millar with Drumquin’s Travis Humphrey third, while Samuel Scollan won class nine and Crossen pipped Barrett and Noble to the Historic title with Donaghmore’s Adrian Hetherington third.

Full results via rallyscore.net.