‘The pressure is on Searcy’ as WA battle resumes
- 20th August 2021, 9:11am
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by Luke Whitten
- Photos by CMR Photographic
Former champion, John O’Dowd, has declared that the pressure is on his biggest rival to maintain his series lead in Western Australia this weekend.
O’Dowd trails the ex-Australian Rally Champion co-driver, Ben Searcy, by 38 points, and is clear on where the pressure lies.
“(Ben) Searcy’s done well this season, along with (Jack) Flanagan and (Craig) Rando, so we’ll have to see how it all ends up,” O’Dowd explained.
“The pressure is on Searcy now to maintain the championship lead, but we’re going to do our best to win.”
Co-driver, turned driver, Ben Searcy won the Australian Rally Championship in 2018 alongside Eli Evans.
Aboard his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX, he’s built his speed from the moment he turned to the state series.
Funnily enough, Searcy has co-driven for O’Dowd on a number of occasions, meaning it’s more of a friendly rivalry than most.
Searcy is aiming for the win at the Karri Rally.
“We’ve come second in all the rounds, so consistency is paying us well and it shows you have to be there, turn up and finish every stage and every rally,” Searcy says.
“We’ll make sure we keep finishing rallies and putting in the good work to keep our championship lead.
“The car is good, we had a few little set up issues the last rally which made the car hard to handle, but once we adjusted the front dampers, we won three of the four stages.
“My strategy for the Karri Rally is to win it!”
The pair will renew their battle for the title, but if either of them slip up, it’ll be a couple of Subaru drivers there ready to pick up the pieces.
Just under 100 kilometres will be awaiting crews tomorrow.
