1999 ULSTER GP’S TRAGIC LEGACY
Joey Dunlop’s victory in that epic 1999 Ulster Grand Prix superbike race was to prove a landmark moment in a way no-one could have imagined during the celebrations afterwards. A party was planned for later that evening in the great man’s Ballymoney bar but the tragic events of the final 250cc event intervened. Leading the race on his Aprilia, Owen McNally suffered a fatal crash at Dawson’s Bend.
“That changed everything,” Joey’s son, Gary says. “Dad treated Owen like a son.”
To mark the Ulster win, Honda presented Joey with the RC45 but he wasn’t happy with the new Fireblade that replaced it for the 2000 season. Race boss Bob McMillan instead persuaded Honda to provide the Ballymoney man with a SP-1 V-twin and an Aaron Slight WSB engine. The 48-year-old went on to win the Formula One race as both he and Jefferies completed famous hattricks at the TT.
Shortly afterwards Dunlop decided to travel alone to Estonia to compete in a small event in Tallin. With no superbike in his garage he removed the RC45 from the ceiling of his bar where it was suspended as a reminder of his Ulster win for the regulars. On Sunday 2 July, 2000 he rode the silver and black Honda to his final road race win in Tallin. An hour later he lost his life in a crash during the 125cc race. Joey’s Ulster GP win marked the 20th anniversary of his first Dundrod victory. His final lap was his fastest ever but no-one imagined it would be his last on his favourite circuit. Five of the other top 12 finishers in that famous 1999 UGP superbike race are also no longer with us. David Jefferies died in a crash at Crosby during practice for the 2003 TT while Gary Dynes, Adrian McFarland and John Donnan all tragically died in crashes in later years.