Stephen Robert Dunlop (25 November 1960 – 15 May 2008) was a

Northern Irish Northern Irish people is a demonym for all people born in Northern Ireland or people who are entitled to reside in Northern Ireland without any restriction on their period of residence. Most Northern Irish people either identify as Northern ...

motorcycle racer Motorcycle racing (also called moto racing and motorbike racing) is the motorcycle sport of racing motorcycles. Major varieties include motorcycle road racing and off-road racing, both either on circuits or open courses, and track racing. Ot ...

, the younger brother of fellow road racer, the late

Joey Dunlop William Joseph "Joey" Dunlop (25 February 1952 – 2 July 2000) was a Northern Irish motorcyclist from Ballymoney. Career He won his third hat trick at the Isle of Man TT in 2000 and set his fastest lap on the course of 123.87 mph in the ...

, and the father of William Dunlop and

Michael Dunlop Michael Dunlop (born 10 April 1989) is a Northern Irish professional motorcycle racer. Part of a motorcycle racing dynasty, Michael is the brother of the late William Dunlop, son of Robert and nephew of former World Champion Joey Dunlop. He ...

. Like Joey, Robert died after a crash. His son William died in a crash during practice at the

Skerries 100 The Skerries 100 is a multi-race event for motorcycles held annually on countryside roads local to the town of Skerries, County Dublin, Ireland, on the first Saturday in July. History The inaugural Skerries 100 race was on Saturday 6 July, 194 ...

in Dublin on 7 July 2018.

Biography

After an apprenticeship on short circuits, the teenage Dunlop made his road race debut at the 1979 Temple 100. His first appearance at the Cookstown 100 came in 1980, riding a 347 cm³

Yamaha Yamaha may refer to: * Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services, established in 1887. The company is the largest shareholder of Yamaha Motor Company (below). ** Yamaha Music Foundation, an organization estab ...

. His first professional race, where he was fully sponsored was at

Aghadowey Aghadowey ()Placenames NI
3, 350 cm³ and 1000 cm³ races. Four more 125 cm³ victories followed in 1988, 1989, 1991 and 1993; a total of eight victories in the event. He won the

Macau Grand Prix The Macau Grand Prix ( pt, Grande Prémio de Macau; ) is a motorsport road race for automobiles and motorcycles held annually in Macau. It is the only street circuit racing event in which both cars and motorcycles participate, and one of onl ...

in 1989 on a

Honda is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a product ...

500, beating Phillip McCallen and

Steve Hislop Robert Steven Hislop (11 January 1962 – 30 July 2003) was a Scottish motorcycle racer. Hislop won at the Isle of Man TT eleven times, won the British 250cc Championship (1990) and British Superbike championship (1995 and 2002). Hislop di ...

, both on Honda 750's. In 1990 he joined the JPS

Norton Norton may refer to: Places Norton, meaning 'north settlement' in Old English, is a common place name. Places named Norton include: Canada *Rural Municipality of Norton No. 69, Saskatchewan *Norton Parish, New Brunswick **Norton, New Brunswick, a ...

racing team on the RCW588, which was powered by a

Wankel engine The Wankel engine (, ) is a type of internal combustion engine using an Eccentric (mechanism), eccentric rotary combustion engine, rotary design to convert pressure into rotating motion. It was invented by German engineer Felix Wankel, and desi ...

. On short circuits Dunlop notched one of the three MCN Supercup wins, the other two by

Terry Rymer Terence William Rymer (born 28 February 1967) is an English former professional motorcycle road racer turned car and truck racer. Rymer won over 200 races in 20 years of competition during his motorcycle and car racing career. __TOC__ Motorc ...

. Dunlop notched a double in Ireland's

North West 200 The International North West 200 is a Northern Irish motorsport event established in 1929 for road racing motorcycles held on a street circuit known as ''the Triangle'' between the towns of Portstewart, Coleraine and Portrush in Causeway Coast ...

and finished third in the F1 Isle of Man TT. In 1994, Dunlop suffered a major accident on the Isle of Man Formula One TT, when the back wheel of his 750 cm³

Honda RC45 The Honda RVF750R RC45 was a fully faired racing motorcycle created for homologation purposes for the Superbike World Championship by Honda Racing Corporation. The RVF750R was the successor to the VFR750R RC30 (not to be confused with the sport ...

collapsed in a long left turn, just after he took the jump over

Ballaugh Bridge __NOTOC__ Ballaugh Bridge is located on the primary A3 Castletown to Ramsey road and adjacent to the road junctions with the A10 Ballaugh to Ramsey coast road and the tertiary C37 Ballaugh Glen Road in the parish of Ballaugh in the Isle of Ma ...

. Dunlop suffered multiple injuries and was lucky to have survived the high-speed crash. A long stay in hospital, followed by protracted recuperation, meant Dunlop was out of action for the remainder of 1994 and all of 1995. Many believed that Dunlop's racing career was over, and he was left with severe tendon damage which restricted movement, and a shortened leg from the accident. Afterwards accepting his injuries and resultantly restricting his competition entries from then on to the 125 cm³ class, Dunlop was determined to return. Dunlop chose the Cookstown 100 on 20 April 1996, and although still not fully fit, took ninth place in the 125 cm³ race won by brother Joey. He was never to win the main Cookstown 100 race again, but returned every year in the 125 cm³ class: 3rd in 1997, 4th in 1998, 3rd in 2002 and 2nd in 2004. Subject to severe insurance restrictions and costs due to his continual pain and deteriorating condition of his leg, and even questions in the

Northern Ireland Assembly sco-ulster, Norlin Airlan Assemblie , legislature = 7th Northern Ireland Assembly, Seventh Assembly , coa_pic = File:NI_Assembly.svg , coa_res = 250px , house_type = Unicameralism, Unicameral , hou ...

, on 16 December 2003 Dunlop announced that he would quit motorcycle racing after the 2004 season. Dunlop announced that he was hoping to win the Isle of Man TT and North West 200 before he quit, and that he intended to focus on his sons, William and Michael, and pass his motorcycling experience to them. Robert continued racing until his retirement at the 2004

Isle of Man TT The Isle of Man TT or Tourist Trophy races are an annual motorcycle racing event run on the Isle of Man in May/June of most years since its inaugural race in 1907. The event is often called one of the most dangerous racing events in the world ...

races. On 8 February 2005 he was the first person to be elected to the ''"Irish Motorcycle Hall of Fame"''. At the event, Dunlop announced that he was shortly to enter hospital to have his injured leg broken and lengthened, an inevitable conclusion to his 1994 Isle of Man TT accident. He also announced if all went well, he would love to return to motorcycle racing in 2006, sponsored by Patsy O'Kane in a last hurrah. Dunlop actually came back out of retirement during the 2005 road racing season. Dunlop took his record-breaking 15th win at the 2006

meeting. The Dunlop brothers between them also won a record number of races at the North West 200.

Isle of Man TT record

A winner on the course at his first attempt, Dunlop won the 1983 Newcomers 350 cm³ Manx Grand Prix. In 1989 he scored his first TT win in the 125 cm³ Class with a new lap record at . In 1990 he repeated his success in the 125 with a new lap record at , and third place in the Formula 1 TT on the Norton Rotary. In 1991 he scored a double victory taking the 125 cm³ Race for the third year in succession with a record at and a new lap record at . He also won the Junior TT at . In 1992 he finished 2nd in the 125 and 3rd in the Junior and Senior and in 1993 he finished 2nd in the 125. In 1994 an accident at

in the Formula 1 ended his week. He did not race again in the TT until 1997 in the 125 cm³ Race and took third place. In 1998 he won the Ultra-Lightweight race and in 1999 finished 5th. In 2000 he rode a Honda in the Ultra-Lightweight and brought it home in third place. Over his career, he finished on a TT podium 14 times.

Complete TT record

Awards

On 8 February 2005 he was the first person to be elected to the ''"Irish Racer Magazine Hall of Fame"''. In February 2006, it was announced that Dunlop and his brother Joey were honoured with Honorary Degrees from the

University of Ulster sco, Ulstèr Universitie , image = Ulster University coat of arms.png , caption = , motto_lang = , mottoeng = , latin_name = Universitas Ulidiae , established = 1865 – Magee College 1953 - Magee Un ...

, in light of their achievements in the field of motorcycle racing. On 4 July the pair were awarded honorary Doctorate of the University (DUniv) from the University of Ulster in

Coleraine Coleraine ( ; from ga, Cúil Rathain , 'nook of the ferns'Flanaghan, Deirdre & Laurence; ''Irish Place Names'', page 194. Gill & Macmillan, 2002. ) is a town and civil parish near the mouth of the River Bann in County Londonderry, Northern I ...

Personal life

The son of Willie and May Dunlop, he was mentored by close friend Liam Beckett. Married to Louise, the couple had three sons,

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

Michael Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name "Michael" * Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian an ...

and Daniel. William and Michael both became motorcycle racers.

Death

On 15 May 2008 Dunlop died after suffering severe chest injuries in a crash during a practice session at the

. The fatal accident happened in the 250 cc qualifying as the riders approached the Mather's Cross section of the course. When the engine on his motorcycle seized he mistakenly hit the motorcycle's front brake, which was situated beside the clutch on his specially modified bike, and he was thrown over the handlebars at approximately 155 mph (250 km/h). As he crashed, a following rider, Darren Burns, collided with him and suffered a broken leg and concussion in the accident. Dunlop was taken to Causeway Hospital in

before succumbing to his injuries shortly after 22:00

local time Local time is the time observed in a specific locality. There is no canonical definition. Originally it was mean solar time, but since the introduction of time zones it is generally the time as determined by the time zone in effect, with daylight s ...

. Dunlop had been racing in the 250 cc class that year for the first time since the 1994

. His son Michael went on to win the race and dedicated the victory to his father. His funeral took place on 18 May 2008 at Garryduff Presbyterian Church in his home town of

Ballymoney Ballymoney ( ga, Baile Monaidh , meaning 'townland of the moor') is a small town and civil parish in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is within the Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council area. The civil parish of Ballymoney is situated in ...

. Dunlop was laid to rest beside his brother, Joey.

References

External links

Robert Dunlop on Isle of Man Guide

Memorial site for Robert Dunlop

North West 200 Official Website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dunlop, Robert People associated with Ulster University British motorcycle racers Motorcycle racers from Northern Ireland Isle of Man TT riders Superbike World Championship riders Motorcycle racers who died while racing 1960 births 2008 deaths Sport deaths in Northern Ireland People from Ballymoney

Robert The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...