Dickson’s Day on Lakeland Stages Rally
Stephen Dickson & Ben Teggart leap at Forest Championship win in Lakelands. Pic by Cian Donnellan.
It would be Dickson’s day on Saturday as Stephen Dickson & Ben Teggart raced to an impressive debut Sligo Pallets Forest Rally Championship win on the ultra-high-speed stages that the Enniskillen Motor Club’s Lakeland Stages Rally had on offer, and with it have propelled themselves to the very top of the standings with two round to go.
With six stages within the mythical Ballintempo Forest complex, renowned for its monstrous jumps and huge commitment corners, the Lakelands was always going to throw up some drama and it started right from the first stage. Leading the series and with an opportunity to seal the 2025 title on the event, Jason Mitchell & Paddy McCrudden would be caught out on the very first stage and see their day end with a visit to the scenery.
Last year’s champions Derek Mackarel & Eamonn Creedon hit trouble aswell early on, the pair arrived at the mid-day service complaining of Clutch issues that was hampering their progress and saw them lose over 35 seconds to the leaders. A typically all-hands on deck approach by the Monaghan men in service saw the issue rectified and a pair of fastest times in the afternoon was enough to secure second and leave the pair still in contention for a second Championship crown.
With many crews deciding to not score points on the event and run larger restrictors, the race for the Sligo Pallets Forest Rally Championship podium was wide open and the ones to capitalise were Ashley Dickson & Alistair Wyllie who rounded off a brilliant performance by finishing third. It was joyous scenes at the Finish Ramp as Ashley realised that he would be sharing the podium with his son Stephen.
For Stephen Dickson & Ben Teggart, the Lakeland Stages could not have gone much better. Four fastest stage times from six in their Ford Fiesta Rally2, a dominant 29.6 second victory, maximum point and now leading the 2025 Sligo Pallets Forest Rally Championship standings heading to their home event, the Bushwhacker, in less than two weeks’ time.
In the 2WD race for the title, it was Sam Stewart & Stephen Peoples who raced to victory with a hugely impressive display across the day, beating off a huge field of the finest talent in Irish Gravel Rallying. By the time the crews arrived back to the Finish Ramp in Enniskillen, Stewart & Peoples had 39.3 seconds to spare over Damien Tourish & Kevin Duggan, with Hugh McQuaid & Declan Casey in third in an all-Ford Escort MK2 podium.
The result sees McQuaid & Casey jump back into the lead of the 2WD Championship with a pair of rounds left, the Bushwhacker on September 19 & 20th and the Donegal Forest Rally on November 8th.
While not Championship registered, 2022 Forest Champions Paddy O’Brien & Stephen O’Brien put on an absolute masterclass to claim a hugely impressive third Lakelands win in a row in his Skoda Fabia R5, beating recent Cork Forest Rally winners Cathan McCourt & Barry McNulty by 5.3 seconds, with another impressive drive seeing Tarmac regulars Kevin Eves & Chris Melly claim a very impressive third place.
With 35 Sligo Pallets Forest Rally Championship crews heading north to take on the Lakeland stages, there were plenty of noteworthy performances across the Class battles. John Ward & Tommy Hayes performed strongly to take the Class 2 win and put themselves right in contention for a battle with Cian Caldwell, while Oran Nulty & Hugh O’Donnell opened a large gap in Class 2A with a brilliant result in their Citroen C2R2.
Lukasz Czapnik & Peter Szadkowski have put themselves right back into the Class 4 chase with a win, while Sammy Scollan & Niall McCarron were on a huge charge in Class 9.
Christy Butler & Ann Hutchinson pipped Eugen Ward & Patrick Heaney to take the Class 11F honours, while Ned Doherty & Andy Farmer took the 11R win ahead of class leaders Michael Cuddihy & Kevin Barry.
Brian Little & Jonathan McAleer took the top points in Class 12, and even a head on encounter with a tree couldn’t stop David Condell & Eugene Donnelly from winning Class 14. In the 4WD Classes, Dominic Leonard & Martin Baxter took another maximum point haul in Class 15, while Pete McCullagh & Liam Callaghan wrapped up the Class 20 title in style with a sixth straight maximum score of the season.
