O’Brien brothers to the ‘four’ again in the Bushwhacker

MOUNTFIELD’S O’Brien brothers Patrick and Stephen, made it four Bushwhacker Rally wins in a row on Saturday when they produced a scintillating final stage run to pip Dromore’s Cathan McCourt to victory by less than a second.

McCourt, who had Brian Hoy on the notes, was the early pace-setter in his Rally2 Ford Fiesta, leading after the opening charges over the Killeter and Carrickaholton stages, but the O’Briens served warning of what was to come with a fast run in their R5 Skoda Fabia over Lough Bradan to top the overall time sheets at the end of the first loop.

McCourt battled back over the second running of Killeter and after an eye-catching performance on Carrickholton2 he held a 1.4 second advantage with just one stage remaining.

But the O’Briens ‘had a job to do’ and they duly completed their task on the same Lough Bradan stage hat the excelled on earlier in the day, overhauling McCourt’s lead to seal a fourth win in a row on the Omagh Gravel Grand Prix, once again sponsored by McKelvey Asbestos.

And while delighted to have achieved his aim of completing another Lakeland-Buswhacker double before he head south, back to Perth in Western Australia, Patrick admits his latest victory in his home event is as sweet as his first.

“I left it late! It adds a bit of excitement to it!,” he said with a wry chuckle before admitting that he felt he could have gone even faster over the last stage.

He explained: “It was a big push but there was probably bits left in it because there was nowhere we felt out of control. It was on the door handles but controlled if that makes sense.

“I had a job to do so we just had to go out and drive as hard as possible. The outcome is the outcome, so you can only do what you can. We were on a bit of a push and I knew it felt good but it’s hard to know where you are so we waited to see Cathan’s time but it’s mad for it to be so close. It was great racing and they are great lads too.

“It’s mad to have done four in a row because I never thought that would happen. It’s mad because it feels like the first time again and it’s nice to do the Bushwhacker and Lakeland double twice.”

Ballygawley’s Vivian Hamill and co-driver Andrew Grennan finished third, almost 40 seconds adrift of the top two in their Volkswagen Polo, while Strabane’s former Irish Forest Champion Ryan Caldwell and co-driver Sean Ferris, who sufffered a puncture on stage one, were fourth in their Fabia.

Kyle White and Anthony Nestor rounded out the top five in their Hyundai i20, closely followed by Strabane’s Martin Cairns and Dunamanagh co-driver Peter Ward, who were sixth in their Fiesta.

Derek Mackarel and Eamonn Creedon came home seventh in another Ford Fiesta and that result was enough for them to be crowned both Sligo Pallets Forest Rally champions and Northern Ireland Forest champions.

The top 10 was completed by James McCarville and Conal McNulty, David Condell and Michael Coady and Clady’s Aidan Wray and Kenny Bustard in their Rally2 Ford Fiesta.

In the two-wheel-drive race it was delight for Shane McGirr and Denver Rafferty as they clinched the Irish Forest Championship title when their nearest rivals Mickey Conlon and James McEneaney and Hugh McQuaid and Declan Casey both retired their Ford Escorts on an attritional day in the Tyrone countryside. Plagued by clutch problems on the opening loop, the Lada VFTS of McGirr and Rafferty returned to service with 6.3 seconds to spare over Sam Stewart and Alan Johnson, but with a few tweaks and some prayers said, the Lada never missed a beat to come home with 22.6 seconds to spare over the Escort of Stewart and Johnson.

In the classes, Dromore’s Conor McCourt and co-driver Caolan McKenna won class one in their RS1800 Ford Escort; Craig Reihill and Killian McCardle won class two in their Fiesta; class three went to Drumquin’s Damien Conlin and Paul Mimnagh in their Vauxhall Corsa; Pomeroy’s Stewart McClean and Jonny McAleer won class four in their Vauxhall Nova from Lifford’s Mickey Joe Browne’s Honda Civic, co-driven by Ronan Dorrian; Dromore’s Liam McQuaid won class five in his Escort from Dungannon’s Mark Stewart and Chris Hobson; Sam Stewart and Alan Johnston won class six from the Toyota Corolla driven by Dromore’s Shane McCanney and Dairmaid Campbell; McGirr and Rafferty earned the class seven honours; Omagh’s Paul Maguire won class eight in his Subaru Impreza co-driven by David Kerr from Drumquin’s Travis Humphrey and Dion Coyle in a Mitsubishi Evo IX; Drumquin’s Dean Humphrey and Stephen Reynolds were victorious in class nine in their Evo VIII ahead of Eskra’s Damian and Shane O’Hagan in an Evo IX and class 10 went to White and Anthony Nestor.

*Full results are available via rallyscore.net.