Martin Finnegan:MARTIN FINNEGAN, one of Ireland's finest motorcycle road racers, lost his life after crashing at the Tandragee 100 meeting in Co Armagh on Saturday, May 3rd. He was 29 years old.
Martin was a native of Lusk, Co Dublin, and was the youngest of a family of seven. He began riding motorcycles at the age of seven and was soon making his mark as an Irish schoolboy Moto X champion.
However, road racing would prove to be his forte, and he made his short circuit racing debut at Mondello Park in 1996 riding a 250cc Honda. In fact his parents were unaware of his new sporting direction until his mother found his racing licence by chance.
Martin's road racing lasted but a brief 10 years, but he achieved more in that time than most riders only dream about.
In 1998 he made the transition to racing on a closed public roads circuit when he finished in a creditable third place in the junior support class at his local Killalane meeting.
His progress to the top of the sport he loved was meteoric. His tally in the 1999 season was impressive, taking five race wins en route to claiming the Irish Support Championship. Martin's home town of Lusk is only a stone's throw from the famous Skerries 100 circuit, and it was a matter of great pride for him and his family when he finished in fifth place in the Skerries 100 junior race in 1999.
From the very start, Martin had the support and backing of his family and friends. They quickly moulded themselves into a team around him, and named themselves Round Tower Racing, a reference to the local tower that is such a dominate feature of Lusk's local landscape.
He won the Manx Grand Prix Junior Newcomers Race in 2000, underlining his professional and meticulous approach by completing over 100 laps of the 37¾-mile circuit in order to familiarize himself with it in the weeks leading up to the event.
Each passing season saw him raise the standard of his game. In 2001 at the Ulster Grand Prix, held on the famous Dundrod circuit, he marked his debut with a string of impressive rides that earned him three top 10 finishes. He made his Isle of Man TT debut in 2002 and by 2004 was widely acknowledged by fans and peers within road racing as one of the sports' true stars.
The 2004 season was littered with achievements that included victories at Athea, Skerries, Cookstown, Monaghan, Killalane and Dundalk. He ended the season crowned Irish Senior Road Race Champion and then to cap it all was voted by the fans the recipient of the prestigious Enkalon Irish Motorcyclist of the Year Award.
The year 2005 saw Martin within touching distance of the victory he desired the most, a win at the Isle of Man TT. He finished third in the Senior TT and in the process lapped the circuit at a speed of 127.014mph, the fastest lap ever recorded by an Irish rider on the historic circuit.
The same year he opened his own motorcycle business, Extreme 45, named after his favoured racing number.
Martin ended the 2006 season crowned as Irish Senior Road Race Champion, after taking trebles at the meetings at the Mid-Antrim 150 and Killalane.
The 2007 season promised much with Martin equipped with factory-prepared machinery from the iconic Italian MV Agusta factory.
Strong performances at the 2007 TT festival saw him finish the week as the most successful rider there, but the season did not bring the level of success he expected or was used to. (The main photograph by Alastair McCook shows Martin riding his Agusta at the 2007 Superstock Isle of Man TT, in which he finished in fourth place.)
In a career that spanned 10 all- too-short years Martin was quickly marked out as a rider who had the pick of the finest machinery the top racing teams had to offer. Amongst others, Martin raced for Vitrans/Ten Kate Honda, Klaffi/ Alpha Boilers Honda, and Danfay Racing.
He began the 2008 season riding Yamahas for the Ballymoney-based JMF Millsport Team, and less than an hour before the crash that claimed his life Martin had scored his first win on the Tandragee circuit, the 43rd victory of his career.
Martin Finnegan will be remembered for his flamboyant style and spectacular performances, always gracious in victory or defeat, and as one of the finest riders to come out of Ireland. His fans, and there are many, knew him affectionately as Finbar, and to them he was approachable, always with the time to sign an autograph or stop and chat. He was one of the best.
Martin Finnegan is survived by his wife Brenda, their daughter Rachel, his parents Jim and Margaret, his sisters Elizabeth and Geraldine, and brothers, James, Paul, Seán and Peter.
Martin Finnegan: Born October 1979; died May 3rd 2008