It was all smiles once more for Jason Mitchell & Paddy McCrudden as they raced to back-to-back victories in the 2025 Sligo Pallets Forest Rally Championship, taking the spoils on a hugely popular Mayo Forest Rally and in doing so now jump into the lead of the Championship going into the mid-season break.
The afternoon loop, on stages that the competitors absolutely raved about thanks to their brilliant surface and fast flowing nature, would see Jason Mitchell & Paddy McCrudden ever extend their lead, and they would return to Ballina as winners of the 2025 Mayo Forest Rally by 20.6 seconds ahead of Purcell & Brennan, with Niall McGonigle & Caolan McKenna taking third in a VW Polo GTi R5, just 0.6 seconds off second place.
With three maximum scores from the four rounds to date, it’s definitely advantage Jason Mitchell in the 2025 Sligo Pallets Forest Rally Championship standings.
In the 2WD battle, it was a case of redemption, and standing up for the RWD crews against the rise of the young FWD chargers, as Damien Tourish & Domhnall McAlaney and Hugh McQuaid & Declan Casey made up for their retirements in Tipperary to do battle over the 45kms of action in Mayo.
And for the first time this year it was Tourish & McAlaney who took the win, bringing their Historic spec Ford Escort Mk2 home 15.6 seconds ahead of McQuaid & Casey, with both machines wearing plenty of battle scars heading into a deserved summer break.
In J1000, it was drama right to the very again once again, as it always seems to be, with the result in Mayo changing in the final few miles. Once again this year it was heartbreak for Danny Brady & Darren O’Brien as their 7.7 second advantage going into the final stage evaporated when a driveshaft broke on their VW Up!
For a second event in succession, it was James McShea & Grace O’Brien that sat atop the podium as the crews returned to Ballina
