Despite a late puncture Jordan and Paul Hone claimed a third maximum score of the season to win the Brown & Brown NI Forest Rally Challenge at the Fivemiletown final, writes William Neill.
Claudy’s Jordan, who won the prestigious BTRDA 1400 series in 2016 before a first outright rally win at the 2024 Killarney Forest Rally can now add an overall championship title to his achievements alongside co-driving dad, Paul.
A non-finish at the previous Dogleap Rally placed Hone third going into the Samsonas-supported Omagh Motor Club event but, with each driver dropping their worst score for the overall tally and two early maximum points at the Lakeland and opening leg of the Bushwhacker there was no doubting Hone’s chances.
Ten points from Hone, Stephen Dickson and Ben Teggart were among the first to congratulate the champions at the Tempo finish ramp. Stephen’s father, Ashley, who despite not finishing the rally following an off on the final pass of the Doon stage, finished third.
The rally itself, and there was early drama for last year’s winner Niall McGonigle with a gear linkage issue leaving Derek Mackarel fastest on SS1, Jenkin, by 1.5 seconds.
The leader went on to more than double the lead to 3.6 seconds before hitting a rock while crossing the finish line of SS2 that would rule out the Ford Fiesta driver.
Once Mark Donnelly, a former Fivemiletown winner, grabbed the lead on SS3 he held the position with fellow Omagh man Cathair Hughes to win by 17.3 seconds in a Volkswagen Polo R5 despite limited outings this season.
Gareth Mimnagh was fastest on the Doon repeat on the way to second overall with J Barry McCarney in the popular Rally2 option Ford Fiesta, almost 12 seconds ahead of Josh Moffett and Andy Hayes in a Hyundai i20 R5.
David Condell and John McElhinney moved up two places on the final stage to narrowly finish fourth, 23.4 seconds from Moffett but Hone was only 0.6 seconds behind.
Indeed Hone could have easily been a place further back too with Alan Smyth just another 0.9 seconds back despite almost half an hour worth of competition, providing a demonstration of how close the action can be within the Northern Ireland rally scene.
No stranger to top two-wheel-drive Shane McGirr and Denver Rafferty won the category in a Lada Riva by half a minute from Hugh McQuaid who spun at a junction on Jenkin.
Despite not finishing the final round Sam Stewart won the popular two-wheel-drive prize by seven points with two maximum scores at the Lakeland and Dogleap rallies.
