Tag

Ireland

Browsing

It is with a heavy heart that we report the passing of William Dunlop, who passed away today at the Skerries 100 in Ireland

Crashing near the Sam’s Tunnel section of the road racing course, Dunlop succumb to the injuries he sustained during Saturday’s open practice session. He was 32 years of age.

A veteran racer and a member of road racing’s most storied family, William Dunlop was brother to Michael Dunlop, nephew to the legendary Joey Dunlop, and son to Robert Dunlop – all four Dunlops making their mark at a number of road racing events.

A six-time podium finisher at the Isle of Man TT, and a race-winner at both the North West 200 and Ulster Grand Prix, William Dunlop was a road racing favorite, with many pegging the 2018 season as possibly his last before retiring.

Guy Martin’s weekend at the Ulster Grand Prix is over, after a nasty crash during the Dundrod 150 Superbike race left the Tyco BMW rider with a broken vertebra, sternum, and ribs.

Watching the footage of the crash (after the jump), Martin was surprisingly lucky with his crash, despite his laundry list of painful injuries. Martin went down in one of the few areas on the Dundrod Circuit where there is a clearing, and narrowly missed a tree that was in his crash trajectory, in the process.

That being said though, Martin will have to remain in the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast for the next few days, as he recovers from surgery and mends his wounds. He is said to be in good spirits.

It’s with sad news that we begin this Monday’s coverage, as we regret to report that popular road racer Simon Andrews has succumb to the head injuries he sustained in a crash during the North West 200.

Andrews was racing with the Penz13.com BMW team on Saturday, when he had a horrific crash during the NW200 Superstock race. The crash occurred during the fourth lap of the race, near the Metropole corner in Portrush.

Airlifted to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast, reports on Andrews’ condition seemed to improve on Sunday, as the 29-year-old had been taken off life support and was breathing on his own, but Andrews unfortunately passed away this morning from his injuries.

We are back on track with the eight-part “TT Legends” documentary, which follows the racing shenanigans of the Honda TT Legends road and endurance racing squad. After finishing with the Bol d’Or endurance race in Episode Two, Episode Three finds the Honda riders at the North West 200, one of the great Irish road racing events.

Like the Isle of Man TT, the North West 200 is held on public roads, but unlike the TT, this is not a time trial format. Instead, NW200 riders leave the starting line together, and swap paint and positions throughout the course. One of the fastest road races, riders reach well over 200 mph on their machines at the Irish road race.

Popular KMR Kawasaki rider Ryan Farquhar has been ruled out of further 2011 Isle of Man TT participation, as the Irishman crashed at Keppel Gate during Friday’s practice sessions. Hitting a false neutral in the closing stages of the session, Farquhar managed to escape having any broken bones in the incident, but says he is too battered and bruised to compete this year in the TT. The event marks another blemish for the 2011 Kawasaki ZX-10R’s record here at the Isle of Man TT, which has more than a few competitors eying their green machines in leery ways.

“The final evening of practice was going well and we were certainly heading in the right way after the problems we’d had earlier in the week but it all went wrong when I went through Keppel Gate,” explained Farquhar. “I was back down for two gears for the right hander and then down one more gear for the left but I hit a false neutral in between the two corners and ran off the track. I managed to save the bike and was skirting the barriers but just when I thought I’d saved it, the final barrier came back out towards the course and I hit it head on and down I went.”