William Dunlop (23 July 1985 – 7 July 2018) was a professional

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 ...

from

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

who died as a result of a racing incident. Part of a motorcycle racing

dynasty A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family,''Oxford English Dictionary'', "dynasty, ''n''." Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1897. usually in the context of a monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A ...

, William was the elder brother of

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 ...

; both were sons of the late

Robert Dunlop Stephen Robert Dunlop (25 November 1960 – 15 May 2008) was a Northern Irish motorcycle racer, the younger brother of fellow road racer, the late Joey Dunlop, and the father of William Dunlop and Michael Dunlop. Like Joey, Robert died after ...

, and nephews of 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 th ...

. He died as a result of a crash at a racing event in the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

Career

William started racing 125 cc bikes in 2000, when he was 15. During his racing career, he accumulated 108 Irish National Road Race wins.William Dunlop killed in crash at Skerries 100 road races
'' BBC Sport Northern Ireland'', 7 July 2018. Retrieved 8 July 2018 In addition, he also achieved numerous victories at two of Ireland's prestigious road racing events, the

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 ...

(4) and the

Ulster Grand Prix The Ulster Grand Prix is a motorcycle race that takes place on the Dundrod Circuit made up entirely of closed-off public roads near Belfast, Northern Ireland. The first races took place in 1922 and in 1935 and 1948 the Fédération Internation ...

(7). His best results at the

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 ...

saw him securing the third tier on the podium on four occasions with his best result being the runner up position in the 2016

TT Zero TT Zero – an electric motorsport event introduced for the 2010 Isle of Man TT races – replaced the similar TTXGP race as a 1-lap (37.733 miles) circuit of the Snaefell Mountain Course. The TT Zero event as an officially sanctioned Isle of M ...

. Until late 2015, Dunlop had raced for Tyco BMW Motorrad Racing campaigning the

BMW S1000RR BMW S1000RR is a race oriented sport bike initially made by BMW Motorrad to compete in the 2009 Superbike World Championship, that is now in commercial production. It was introduced in Munich in April 2008, and is powered by a four-cylinder eng ...

and a

Suzuki GSX-R600 The Suzuki GSX-R600 is a ''600 cc'' class, or supersport, sport bike in Suzuki's GSX-R series of motorcycles. History ;1992–1993 Launched with a water-cooled inline-4 engine. The first model had the same body specifications as the 1 ...

. The 2016 season saw him competing at the main International Road Races aboard

Yamaha YZF-R1 The Yamaha YZF-R1, or simply R1, is a -class sports motorcycle made by Yamaha. It was first released in 1998, undergoing significant updates in 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2015, 2018

and

Yamaha YZF-R6 The Yamaha YZF-R6 is a sport bike, produced by Yamaha as a 600 class from 1999 to 2020. From 2021, production availability is limited to race-only specification in most global markets, causing race organisers to re-align their engine eligibilit ...

in the Superbike and Supersport categories. In addition, Dunlop campaigned a

Kawasaki ZX-10R The Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R is a motorcycle in the Ninja sport bike series from the Japanese manufacturer Kawasaki, the successor to the Ninja ZX-9R. It was originally released in 2004 and has been updated and revised throughout the years. It co ...

Superstock machine, provided by a different team, during selected rounds of the British Championship. Dunlop also competed in eleven TT race seasons between 2006 and 2017, with a second place and four third places being his best results, in the 125 cc, SuperSport and Classic races. He won two races at the

with his first victory being in the 2009 250 cc event. 2009 also saw Dunlop take part in the last ever 250cc Grand Prix race at

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

finishing 18th on a P J Flynn Bigman Racing Honda.

2014

Dunlop crashed his Tyco Suzuki Superbike in the final race of the week at the 2014 Isle of Man TT, during the

Senior TT The Senior Tourist Trophy is a motorcycle road race that takes place during the Isle of Man TT festival, an annual event traditionally held over the last week in May and the first week in June. The Senior TT is the Blue Riband event of the festi ...

event. He led the race on time briefly during the first lap, but ran wide through the Graham Memorial corner on the mountain section on the third lap, running off the road up against the adjacent embankment, resulting in two fractures to his left leg.

2015

Dunlop got his 2015 season off to a positive start by clinching a brace of wins at a rain-soaked Tandragee 100. In the Supersport Class, Dunlop put in a very convincing performance on board the CD Racing

and rounded the meeting off by taking victory in the Senior Open Race on the TAS

Death

Dunlop sustained fatal head injuries as a result of a crash during practice for the 2018 Skerries 100 Road Races in

County Dublin "Action to match our speech" , image_map = Island_of_Ireland_location_map_Dublin.svg , map_alt = map showing County Dublin as a small area of darker green on the east coast within the lighter green background of ...

. His Yamaha YZF-R1 bike spilled oil from the engine sump onto the back wheel, and as a result Dunlop lost control and crashed into a ditch and trees at the Sam's Tunnel part of the circuit. On 26 February 2022, a statue of William Dunlop was added to the Memorial Garden in

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 ...

, where there were memorials to his father Robert and uncle Joey.Memorial: Statue unveiled of tragic road-racer Dunlop in his native Ballymoney
''

Belfast Telegraph The ''Belfast Telegraph'' is a daily newspaper published in Belfast, Northern Ireland, by Independent News & Media. Its editor is Eoin Brannigan. Reflecting its unionist tradition, the paper has historically been "favoured by the Protestant po ...

'', 26 February 2022. Retrieved 4 March 2022

Career statistics

Grand Prix motorcycle racing

By season

Races by year

Complete TT record

References

External links

Isle of Man Database
TT biography
William Dunlop Racing
Official Website {{DEFAULTSORT:Dunlop, William 1985 births 2018 deaths Isle of Man TT riders Motorcycle racers from Northern Ireland People from Ballymoney 250cc World Championship riders Motorcycle racers who died while racing Sport deaths in the Republic of Ireland

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 ...