O’BRIENS CLAIM IRISH GRAVEL SILVERWARE WITH A NARROW TRIUMPH
A slender 2.5-second margin finalround home rally win crowned Patrick and Stephen O’Brien as Irish gravel champions in a Skoda Fabia R5 after a grandstand finish in the Omagh forests.
“We fell into a race while there for the championship and said we would go for it,” admitted the R317 Motorsport driver Patrick O’Brien after going fastest on each stage of the second half.
Off the back of a sixth win of the year in Enniskillen, Desi Henry was fastest on the opening 2.9-mile Carrickaholton stage by 1.5s and increased the margin to 3.7s on SS2, Slievedoo.
Cathan McCourt was faster on the next two stages in another Ford Fiesta Rally2 to bring Henry’s advantage down to just 0.6s before taking took the lead pre-service by 4.4s.
The gap was, again, 0.6s after SS7 only O’Brien was now behind McCourt. Then, with just a double pass of a reversed loop of Lough Bradan to go, a mere tenth of a second split McCourt and O’Brien to set up a thrilling race to the finish.
O’Brien emerged from the final stage with a winning margin of just 2.5s.
Declaring himself a gravel fan
Jason Mitchell and co-driver Paddy McCrudden won a stage on the way to third, 16s shy of McCourt and Liam
Moynihan. Mitchell/McCrudden put an off earlier this month to one side and had a steady day to secure their place by 12s.
Early leaders Henry and Paddy Robinson struggled with brakes and tyres to finish fourth but, with the Tour of the Sperrins scrapped, sealed the NI Forest Rally Challenge crown.
A string of top-five stage times had Mark Donnelly in fifth with Jordan Hone, who had held the Irish championship points advantage before the weekend, back in sixth. Gareth Mimnagh was fifth before sliding off on SS4 and Garry Jennings rolled onto his roof while in 10th but later continued.
Results
Organiser: Omagh Motor Club Ltd When: September 17 Where: Omagh, County Tyrone Championship: NI Forest Rally Challenge and Motorsport Ireland National Forest Rally Championship Starters: 96 Stages: 10
1 Patrick O’Brien/Stephen O’Brien (Skoda Fabia R5) 30m44s; 2 Cathan McCourt/Liam Moynihan (Ford Fiesta Rally2) +2.5s; 3 Jason Mitchell/Paddy McCrudden (Ford Fiesta Rally2); 4 Desi Henry/Paddy Robinson (Ford Fiesta Rally2); 5 Mark Donnelly/Stephen O’Hanlon (Ford Fiesta R5); 6 Jordan Hone/Lorcan Moore (Ford Fiesta R5); 7 Conor McCourt/ Caolan McKenna (Skoda Fabia R5); 8 Jonny Leonard/Niall Burns (Ford Fiesta R5); 9 Niall McCullagh/Ryan McCloskey (Ford Fiesta Rally2); 10 Martin Cairns/Peter Ward (Ford Fiesta Rally2). Class winners: Donal Sweeney/Ashley Trimble (Ford Escort Mk2); James McGovern/Louise Boyle (Toyota Corolla); William Graham/Ben Thompson (Vauxhall Corsa); Ruairi Maguire/Christopher Corry (Vauxhall Corsa); Liam McQuaid/ Mervyn Galbraith (Ford Escort Mk2); Damien McGauran/Ryan Farrell (BMW 320); Alan Smyth/Gary McCrudden (Ford Escort Mk2); Derek Mackarel/Eamon Creedon (Mitsubishi Lancer E9); Darragh Cairns/Garry Monteith (Mitsubishi Lancer E10); O’Brien/O’Brien.