After missing round 3, the Larson Circuit Of Ireland Donagh Kelly and Kevin Flanagan were laying 9th on the leader board of the Sunoco Fuels Group N category and knew they had to get a good result at round 4 the KBB Doors Tour Of The Sperrins.

A torrential downpour greeted Donagh and Kevin on the way to the first stage. They decided to take a cautious approach as Donagh was never in the Davagh Forest Complex before and ended the stage in 7th position 20 seconds behind the leader Camillus Bradley and Danny O’Neill.

On stage two the Donegal crew improved their pace and set a time of 6:55.1 which was fastest overall and was good enough to move them up to 4th overall and 4th in Grp N. Stage three they set another good time and were 3rd fastest, 2.2 seconds from Raymond Johnson the rally leader. Donagh and Kevin were now 3rd overall and 3rd in Grp N only a second behind Mark Massey with Derek McGarrity only 1.3 seconds behind Donagh in 4th.

On stage four the stage was reversed and the roads were beginning to dry. On this stage Donagh and Kevin were second fastest two tenths of a second from Derek McGarrity. With a good time on that stage the crew were now up to 2nd overall.

Going in to the final stage Donagh Kelly and Kevin Flanagan were only one tenth of a second behind Mark Massey and Andrew McVeigh but Massey’s hopes of winning the rally were over when he slipped of the road and out of the rally. Unfortunately for Donagh he had problems too and lost out on a potential victory with an overshoot. After the final stage Donagh commented “We were well up on our previous time, but then we had an overshoot in the car park and lost about 10 seconds.”

Next for Donagh and Kevin is the Modern Tyre Service Mourne Rally on the 6th June where they hope to get more valuable points for the championship.

Thanks again to the 2009 sponsors, KN Network Services, Donnelly Bros. Dungannon, Prime Tyres and Swan Plant Hire and for there continued support, Shell Racing Fuels, Pirelli Tyres and Vehicle Services Motorsport (www.vsmsport.com).

Press release by www.vsmsport.com