Joey Dunlop M

Full Name. William Joseph Dunlop.

Date of birth. 25.2.52.

Birth Place Ballymoney, County Antrim.

Home Town. Ballymoney, County Antrim.

Status. Married to Linda.

Children. Julie, Donna, Garry, Richard, Joanne.

Hobbies. Darts.

First Race. 1969, Maghaberry on a Tiger cub.

Fav. Circuit. Isle of Man TT Course.

Career Highlights. F1 World Champion 82, 83, 84, 85, 86.

Ambition. To race for as long as possible.

Joeys 1999 season in brief

Joey surprised quite a few people by adding a regular 600cc machine to his plans for the 1999 season but
said he would quite like to win the Regal Championship before he retires. The thing about Joey is, he could well mean it. Despite a number of excellent results on the 600cc Honda Joey in the end could not match the expertise shown by the young chargers many of whom today seem to be 600cc specialists. Joey had a strange season, starting on a high and getting everyone's attention at the Easter races by beating Short circuit specialist Michael Swann at Kirkistown on his beloved RC45.

On the roads Joey was his usual self, taking each race as it came and if the plot looked right of he went into the wide blue yonder. Seeing Joey circulating with Gary Dynes and Adrian Archibald at the Skerries was enough to show any doubters that 'Yer Maun' could never be counted out. Once Dynes and Archibald had shown what they could do Joey decided it was time to go, and go he certainly did, breaking James Courtneys lap record on his way to a fantastic victory in front of the typically huge Skerries crowds.

The 1999 TT will no doubt go down as one of Joeys most disappointing in recent years. Joey suffered from the usual island machine foibles during practice but was confident of a good week's racing. Joey should have won the TT Formula 1 race but the fairies conspired against him in the shape of the red flag incident involving Paul Orrit and then the inability of someone staring at a back tyre to realize the tyre was finished resulting in a lengthy pit stop. This said, Joey was still second in the race a worthy ride from the man. The Ultra lightweight race saw Joey hit problems from the start with a blocked breather on the Andy McMenamy Honda. Even this did not slow Joey down that much as went as quick as ever once the problem had cleared. His Lightweight 250 TT was effectively over as far as the win was concerned when James Courtney crashed out in front of him at Greeba totally detuning Joey. In the 600cc Junior TT Joey was joined on the road for much of the race by fellow Ballymoney and Team Wood rider, reigning Regal 600 Champion Adrian Archibald. These two circulated together and Joey went faster than he had ever gone on a 600cc machine on the Island. The Senior TT was a little disappointing for Joey and he could only manage 5th place, perhaps something to do with the Dunlop Tyres the Honda team have switched to. So Joey came home without a win in the TT races though he did rather well in the Steampacket races and thrilled the crowds with brilliant performances on the RC45.

The Ulster Grand Prix saw Joey at his very very best. As David Jefferies wreaked havoc aboard the V&M R1 Yamaha, Joey after having a quiet word in the ears of V&M owners Steve Mellor and Jack Valentine went out for the final Superbike race focused on one thing only, victory. Using his intimate knowledge of the Dundrod circuit he hounded Jefferies throughout the race before taking the lead in the closing stages. You could hear the cheers all round the circuit as Joey swept to one of his greatest wins in recent years. Honda's Bob McMillan and Dave Hancock were obviously highly delighted as Joey was given the RC45 in recognition of this important win. Joey also put the ageing Honda flagship to excellent use back on the Isle of Man. Dominant wins in the Steampacket races and the Southern 100 proved that if Joey had 'taken a notion' it would take a very committed man to keep with him, let alone beat him.

Things you might not have known about 'Yer Maun'

Joey's first bike was a 250cc BSA when he was 16. His first race bike was a 199cc Tiger Cub which cost £ 50.

Joey's first car was a Mini, the first of seven Joey has owned.

Joey's first Honda win was in 1983 on a 250.

Joey started racing in 1969, he entered two races. he could only afford two races as he was paying off the Tiger Cub.

Joey's ambition at school was to join the Army. He was in the Army cadets ( or was that the Armoy cadets).

Joey's list of employment includes Driving Lorries, Steel erecting, and roofing, some of which he still does as part of his fitness campaign.

Joey's heroes are the late Ayrton Senna, Mike Hailwood and Aaron Slight

Joey laughs when asked about retirement. " I don't know what I'll do when I stop racing, It's a big problem and a bit of a worry for me. I love travelling, I enjoyed going to the races in Estonia in the last couple of years
and to Mettet in Belgium. it was the first time I'd been to Mettet for 20 years.

The build up to TT2000 was indeed a troubled time for all the Honda riders, and Joey was no different. The new
homologation rules surrounding race kits meant that it was going to be difficult to furnish riders with competitive machinery for just three road races, The North West 200, Ulster GP and the TT. At the end of the day this resulted in Joey being given what turned out to be virtually a production spec CBR900 Fireblade. Joey was not impressed and as the North West 200 approached.

Joey threatened to get the RC45 he was given after beating the V&M Yamaha's at last years Ulster GP from it's place hanging from the ceiling of his bar in Ballymoney. A compromise was reached and at the Cookstown Joey appeared with
one of the Paul Bird racing trucks and James Toseland's VTR SP1. It was decided that much work would have to be done to Honda's new flagship before it was capable of taking on and beating V&M's very trick Yamaha's. In the end it proved impossible to stop the V&M machines from dominating the North West and plans were put in motion to improve the SP1 for a competitive attack at the TT.

On arrival Joey had his fair share of problems with some of his other bikes, indeed the 250cc machine was causing
immense concern and just would not behave. Finally when nearly everything on the bike had been changed it was taken to Jurby airfield and suddenly proceeded to fly. Joey had a Ten Kate engine put into his John Harris Motorcycles CBR600
as did Iain Duffus and Jim Moodie. All this though was small beer when you consider what was done to the Demon Vimto SP1. One of Aaron Slights spare World Superbike spec engines was flown to the Isle of Man and subsequently installed
in Joeys machine and the World Superbike Showa technicians were flown in to help sort out the handling problems Joey and the other SP1 riders on the island had been suffering from. By the end of practice Joeys Formula 1 bike was as well prepared as it could be, the technicians had all left the island and returned to their duties at the Hockenheim round of the World Superbike Championship. Now it was all down to Joe.

The rest as they say is history. Joey Dunlop in a first lap blitz reminiscent of his TT races in the 1080's tore the field apart from the flag. At the end of lap one Joey led by a slender margin from Michael Rutter ( who had looked like the man most likely a few weeks before at the North West 200 ) with John McGuinness on the second Demon Vimto SP1 in third place. At the end of lap two and the first pit stops Joey had half a second lead. But now it was David Jefferies who had taken over second place with John McGuinness still holding that third spot. At the end of lap three Joey had opened up a five second lead over Jefferies and Michael Rutter was back on a charge relegating McGuinness to fourth place.

As Joey stopped for his second re fuelling and another rear tyre, it was Jefferies who had taken the lead but by a only point five of a second. A superb pit stop by Joey's team saw Yer Maun back out onto Glencrutchery Road and away down Bray Hill, his race face firmly in place for the two lap run to the finish. A poor pit stop by the V&M team meant that Jefferies had to really push the V&M Yamaha if he was to catch Joey. The task was obviously too much for the V&M machine and the highly tuned Yamaha motor cried enough as David excited Ballacraine. The gritty Yorkshireman pulled in at Ballig Bridge smoke coming from the R1/ 7's exhaust, ironically the point at which Jim Moodie retired his RC45 in last years Senior race when the back tyre on that machine de laminated. Joey was now in complete control and by the end of the fifth lap had a fifty second lead over Michael Rutter on the second V&M machine. When Joey took the chequered flag at the end of the six lap Formula 1 TT he had extended his lead to an astounding sixty one seconds plus a few hundredths. There was really only one man who could have done the job for Honda on such a new machine and in the less than perfect conditions faced by the riders during this race. That man was Joey Dunlop. It was Joey's first big bike bike win on the island for four years and his first Formula 1 victory since 1988. The unassuming Dunlop had done it again and I as many thought, he definitely looked like he hadn't finished.

Monday 5th June and Joey's second race of TT2000. He like everyone else had to endure delays before the start of
racing because of low cloud on the mountain. Brighter weather did eventually move in but it took an eternity to get things rolling, still it was nothing our Joey had not witnessed before. It was announced that the race would be cut to
three laps, again Joey had last won the Lightweight 250cc TT in 1998 in a shortened race but we all hoped that this one would be a little drier.

As in Saturdays Formula 1 race, Joey had his race face on and did his famous first lap blitz. With the King of the Mountain finishing the first of the three laps with a seven second lead over pre race hot favourite John McGuinness, I guess we knew what the outcome was going to be when Joey had pitted and rejoined the race without being overtaken by anyone. Joey went on the complete the second and third laps in the style we had become accustomed to winning by one minute and nine seconds. Kiwi Bruce Anstey came home in second place following John McGuinness' Honda expiring at Governors at the end of the second lap. Third place went to another of the pre race favourites Ian Lougher.