NW 200: Dunlop driven to keep it firmly in the family

Motorsport

Robert Dunlop is now the elder statesman of road racing

NW 200: Plater's not just here for a holiday

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

By Jimmy Walker

"I most certainly will win the 125cc race and I am pretty confident that my son William will grab the 250cc".

North West 200 legend Robert Dunlop was in a no-compromising mood when I spoke to him about his prospects for the weekend in a race where he is undoubtedly the king.

With a total of 15 wins Dunlop heads the pole and it could be argued that he was even better than his celebrated brother Joey in their prime.

"I love the North West 200 and every win there excites me. I was particularly pleased to win the 125cc class two years ago for that was my first success on the track since I scored in 1994 and then as everyone knows I went to the Isle of Man and was involved in a crash which nearly ended my life, never mind my career".

Dunlop has fought back tenaciously from those dark days when he crashed on the Honda Super Bike and it was touch and go whether we would ever see this pint-sized rider with a huge heart ever again.

I remember visiting him in hospital and he lay in bed like a bag of matches - broken and crumpled. But although the body had gone through the mill the spirit was still strong and when he came back only to ride in the 125cc class he proved that with a few applications to his injured bones he could ride well enough to win.

Dunlop has a special thumb break for his left hand and this made it possible for him to ride the Honda.

He had of course other problems with a shortened leg which he later had attended to a few years ago after an operation and now Robert Dunlop mark II is almost as good as mark I.

"People ask me what I will do at this year's North West and I immediately tell them to look out for me on the winner's podium," he said.

"I might also have a podium place in the 250cc race, a class I haven't ridden in since the days of '94. I still see my son William as the winner, but it's not going to be easy for him.

"Let me tell you this. If I'm on the last lap and I'm in the lead with William second my only thought will be whether he is going to try to pass me. There will be no question of me letting him through to win.

"I have been asked on numerous occasions if I would encourage William to grab that first success and make it easy for him but it wouldn't be the same for William or myself.

"I believe that William has to win the hard way and that's the way he sees it as well."

I asked Robert what he felt was his finest day's racing. He replied: " The 1994 meeting. I won a Super Bike double and I also lifted the 125. I was in pole position in both 250cc races when the bikes seized. So you could argue that I would have had a five-timer, the same as Phillip McCallen two years earlier.

"But it doesn't annoy me. Ironically that year of 1994 was the one where I crashed in the Isle of Man.

"I sometimes wonder what I would have gone on to achieve had I not been so badly injured that day".

Robert Dunlop was always a top rider and it is my view he could have been world champion had everything gone right for him. But he took misfortune on the chin and continued to race. He is now very much the elder statesman of road racing and the sport just wouldn't be the same without him.

Everybody will be rooting for him on Saturday as he rides the John Kennedy Honda in the 125cc class - a team which were successful in the early 90s.

Ask anyone about the likely winners at the North West and no matter what group they come up with Robert Dunlop's name will be among them. This should also be the case on Saturday.