Isle of Man capital in shock after loss of such a popular man
THE sport of motorcycle road racing has been part of sporting history in the North Dublin/Meath area since the war, with the famous Skerries 100 continuing in 1946, and before that, it was the Leinster 200. In latter times the Killalane road races, came along in 1984, so North Dublin was the heartbeat for the sport in the south of Ireland.
Road racing is spectacular, exciting, extremely dangerous, and the shop window for the sport in Ireland. It has a massive following, with crowds up to 20.000 at Skerries, and in the north of the country, road racing is regarded as the main sport, with two Internationals, the North West 200 and the Ulster Grand Prix.
For young lads wanting to ride a road bike, they see racing as a way to express their love of speed, whether it be on a purpose built track like Mondello Park, or when they reach the qualifying mark, they can go on to race on closed public roads, as they can race, knowing that there are marshal’s and medical on hand should something go wrong.
Stamullen native Alan Bonner was one of those young lads who raced off road, and then graduated to track racing, and from there all he wanted to do was race on the roads. He won his first ever road race in 2012 at Cookstown, and the same year he took a number of wins in the Senior Support class, and went on to take the Irish Championship at his local track in Killalane, the same year.
Progression is what most riders crave, and the next step of the ladder is the “Big Three” the North West, the Isle of Man TT, and the Ulster Grand Prix, and they were all on Alans list. Alan made his TT debut in 2014, and in 2015 he became the fastest ever Southern Irish rider over the famous TT Mountain course, beating the speed of Lusk legend Martin Finnegan, when he lapped at over 127mph, and finished in a brilliant 15th place. A few weeks later he came home to Kells and took both the Superbike race and the Grand Final, but his season came crashing down a few weeks later at the Ulster Grand Prix, when he crashed heavily, breaking his back, and losing his spleen as well.
He wasn’t to be deterred, and in 2016 he was back at the TT, and while it wasn’t the best of a year, he signed up with NW Racing at the start of this season to ride a BMW for the Swords based team. During this year’s event, he finished 28th in the Superbike race on Sunday 4th June, and on Wednesday 7th June he finished 30th in the Superstock race, winning two prized bronze replicas.
There were two qualifying laps for the last race of the TT Festival on Wednesday evening, and Alan lined up like the rest of the riders, but tragedy wasn’t far away. As he rounded the 33rd milestone, (The course is 37.75 miles long) at roughly 140mph, he lost control of his machine on oil that was spilled on the track by the bike in front of him, whose engine had just blown up, and he crashed heavily, and unfortunately he was killed instantly. The session was immediately red flagged by the organisers.
The shock that hit the large contingent of Irish riders and race fans, left the capital Douglas in complete shock, as Alan became the third rider to lose his life in the space of four days at the festival. In a heartbeat the brilliant mood in the NW Racing team had gone from fun to shock and tears, and the race team had the try and come to terms with the loss of their team rider, fiancé and friend.
Noel Williamson is the team owner “On behalf of NW Racing I wish to offer our sincere condolences to Gemma and the Bonner family. Alan was a talented rider and a genuine lad, and we are in shock at his passing. In the short time that Alan has been racing with the team, we have had great craic, pure and simple. Alan was a special guy to work with, and he was more like a brother than a team rider. I would like to thank everyone for their messages of sympathy, which we appreciate very much”
Road racing has lost another star, and for the local racing community, Alan is sadly the fourth statistic in the last 9 years, with Lusk riders Martin Finnegan and Noel Murphy, both losing their lives at the Tandragee 100 in 2008, and 2014 respectively, and Bellewstown rider Derek Brien also lost his life at the TT in 2011.
The usual calls go out to ban the sport, when tragedy happens, but the road racing community are a different breed, and while they are well aware of the dangers, the sport will go on. To give an example, in the last week, four climbers have lost their life climbing Mount Everest, yet there is very little about this in the media, and no calls for climbing the mountain to be banned.
Yes road racers are greedy, they want to race, and the TT is the goal for most riders, as the challenge is incredible. Every year entries are refused by the organisers, as too many riders want to race there, and this will go on, and on. When tragedy happens, people do question their love for the sport, and yet the Senior TT went ahead on Friday, despite the accidents, with all riders taking part.
The Bonner family, and Alan’s fiancé Gemma, along with his daughter Nicole, will face a long road ahead of them, with their grief and the loss of a father, fiancé, and son.
Alan Bonner was incredibly popular with race fans, and while he took his racing very seriously, he always had time to chat to people, and have a photo taken with them.
As we go to print there are no funeral arrangements, as his remains are still in the Isle of Man. It will be a long and drawn out week for his family and friends.