ROBERT Dunlop shot to fame in the 1980s when he began a record breaking run at the Cookstown 100, where his first title came in 1985.
He suffered a major accident in the Isle of Man Formula One TT in 1994 and sustained multiple injuries which threatened to end his racing career.
He was left with severe tendon damage and a shortened leg from the accident.
But he returned to th
e sport in 1996 at the Cookstown 100 and although still not fully fit took ninth place.
In February 2005 he was the first person to be elected to the Irish Racer Magazine Hall of Fame.
And in February of 2006 it was announced that Robert and his late older brother Joey were to be given honorary degrees from the University of Ulster in light of their achievements in the field of motorcycle racing.
He took his record breaking 15th win at the 2006 North West 200 meeting.
The latest racing tragedy visited upon the Dunlop family comes almost eight years after Joey died when his bike left the course while leading a 125cc race in Tallinn, Estonia.
Before his death Joey had become a motorcycling icon, winning 26 titles at the Isle of Man TT and 24 Ulster Grand Prix crowns.
An estimated 50,000 mourners attended the funeral of the man known simply as the "King of the Road".
Permanent tributes to the rider now stand in his home town of Ballymoney and overlooking the corner on the Isle of Man TT course, now nicknamed Joey's Bend.
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