Fan critically injured in crash at bike race
AN elderly motorcycle club official and bike racing fan from Northern Ireland was critically injured Saturday when three motorbikes collided at a road race in the Republic.
Milton Thom, a 77-year-old spectator, from Cookstown, was burnt when ignited fuel landed on him after competitors crashed in the final race of the Skerries 100 in north Co Dublin.
The pensioner was rushed to Beaumont Hospital in Dublin for treatment where staff said he was in a critical condition.
He was expected to be transferred to a specialist burns unit in St James’s Hospital, Dublin.
Mr Thom is the owner of the Royal Hotel in Cookstown and is also president of the Cookstown Motorcycle Club.
A member of staff at the hotel said his family were at his bedside.
She said he was a lifelong motorcycle racing fan.
“He’s mad about the bikes and would go off to the TT and all the other races every year.”
She said he was in good physical health for a man of his age and the thoughts of all the staff were with him and the rest of the family.
“He’s mobile, but has a few health problems like you’d expect for someone his age. He’s critical but stable, so we’ll just have to wait and see.”
The accident happened on the second lap of the Grand Final on Duke’s Bend, between the Dublin Road and Balgungan, shortly before 5pm.
The hotel spokeswoman said it appeared that Mr Thom was sitting watching the races from the front garden of a friend’s house right on the circuit when the crash occurred.
It seems one of the bikes involved in the accident hit the garden wall Mr Thom was watching from behind, rupturing the petrol tank and showering him with burning fuel.
One of the bikers involved, Gary Johnson from Lincolnshire, suffered a broken collarbone in the accident, while a second rider, Michael Weldon from Swords, escaped with minor injuries.
The third rider appears to have escaped unhurt.
The Skerries 100 is one of the premier road race meetings in the south of Ireland and is run by the Loughshinny Motorcycle Supporters Club. It was the home track of Martin Finnegan, the 28-year-old champion rider who was killed at the Tandragee 100 in Armagh in May. The local hero holds the lap record for the 2.9 mile circuit, which he completed at 106.774mph on a Yamaha 1000cc.
Within weeks of his death, the Irish motor racing fraternity was mourning the death of another top road racer, 48-year-old Robert Dunlop.
The Ballymoney man was killed in a practice session for the North West 200.
Dunlop’s two sons Michael and William both took part in the Skerries 100 and celebrated a successful day’s racing in the event.
Their uncle, fellow bike racer Joey Dunlop, died in an accident while racing in Estonia in 2000.
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Monday 28 May 2012
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