Mitchell & McCrudden win 2025 Championship on Bushwhacker

An incredible season that has consistently seen time sheets topped, five maximum point scores and a brace of outright Rally wins was truly crowned in style on Saturday as Jason Mitchell & Paddy McCrudden cemented their place in the history books by securing the 2025 Sligo Pallets Forest Rally Championship.

After a disappointing early retirement on the recent Lakeland Stages, the pair knew the Championship battle remained firmly in their favour and an incredibly controlled performance over the two-day Omagh Motorclub event saw the pair bring their Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 home to yet another maximum point haul and with it wrap up the 2025 title.

Celebrating its 50th anniversary, the 2025 Bushwhacker saw a bumper entry attracted for what is very clearly one of the finest Gravel rallies in the country, and a huge host of registered crews travelled to Omagh to take on the unique challenge of four stages in the dark on Friday night, followed by a packed day full of classic stages like Killeter, Lough Bradden and Carrickholten on Saturday.

From the very beginning, it was Mitchell & McCrudden who set the pace amongst the Sligo Pallets Forest Rally Championship crews, sensibility kicked in allowing those around on bigger restrictors to push on with Championship glory very much the key order of business. By the end of the evening’s stages, the Skoda pair held a 33.8 second advantage to then Championship leaders Stephen Dickson & Ben Teggart, with 2024 Champions and still outside contenders for a late push at a repeat title Derek Mackarel & Eamonn Creedon just half a second further back in third having taken 9 seconds back from Dickson on the final stage.

Over the six stages on Saturday, Mackarel & Creedon would clock up a trio of fastest stage times in their Ford Fiesta R5, with Dickson & Teggart getting in on the act aswell by going fastest on the final stage in their Ford Fiesta Rally2, but it wasn’t enough for either crew though as Jason Mitchell & Paddy McCrudden returned to Omagh as 2025 Champions, ultimately finishing with 46.1 seconds to spare over Mackarel & Creedon with Dickson & Teggart a further 14.5 seconds back in third.

With the Overall title now secured, the 2WD battle rages on as we get set for the season ending Donegal Forest Rally on Nov 8th. It was a return to form for Shane McGirr & Denver Rafferty who took the Bushwhacker victory after a string of disappointing retirements this year, the flying Lada beating the Ford Escort MK2 of Sam Stewart & Alan Johnston into second ahead of the Ford Fiesta Rally4 of Jack Harris & Aaron O’Regan.

Heading to the final event of the year, Hugh McQuaid holds a slender lead at the top of the 2wd Driver standings but will have a huge battle on his hands battling Cian Caldwell, while Declan Casey wrapped up the Navigator honours with Tommy Hayes in pole position to claim second.

The season ending Donegal Forest Rally will run out of Donegal Town on November 8th, and it will see the culmination of an incredible season of Irish Forest Rally action.