Martin Finnegan: Tenth anniversary of Irish road racing star's tragic death

Hailing from Lusk in Co. Dublin, Finnegan was tragically killed on the second lap of the Supersport race after a crash at Marlacoo corner on Saturday, May 3, 2008.

Earlier, the 29-year-old had sealed his maiden victory at the North Armagh Club’s meeting in the Open Superbike race on the JMF Millsport Yamaha, edging out old adversary Ryan Farquhar.

Finnegan earned a reputation as one of the most spectacular road racers ever, famed for his breath-taking mastery of the fearsome jumps at courses such as Tandragee and Kells.

He was the greatest rider to emerge from southern Ireland in many years and reinforced his status as a rider on the up with an excellent podium in the Superbike race at the Isle of Man TT in 2005, when he finished third on the Vitrans Honda behind John McGuinness and Ballymoney rider Adrian Archibald.

Later in the week, Finnegan had the honour of becoming the fastest Irishman to lap the Mountain Course when he clocked a speed of 127.014mph on the sixth and final lap of the Senior, finishing in fourth place behind McGuinness, Ian Lougher and Guy Martin.

His death a decade ago sent shockwaves through the sport and preceded further tragedy less than two weeks later, when Robert Dunlop lost his life in a crash in practice at the North West 200.

At a time when Irish road racing was dominated by riders from Northern Ireland, Finnegan gave his supporters plenty to cheer and his popularity helped draw some of the biggest crowds in years to his home races at Skerries and Killalane, where he enjoyed plenty of success.

He had a fierce rivalry with Dungannon man Farquhar and the pair were locked in battle when tragedy struck at Tandragee in the Supersport race ten years ago.

At the time, Farquhar told the News Letter: “I would have put total faith in Martin and he would have been the same with me. You need to be able to trust each other when you’re riding at almost 200mph just inches away from each other’s back wheel.

“I had a lot of respect for him although I wouldn’t have been in his awning drinking tea because I tend to keep myself to myself in the paddock.

“But it comes as a big shock when someone of Martin’s capabilities is killed like that.

“I’m glad that he won that race on Saturday because it turned out to be his last race.

“I remember when Richard Britton was killed [at the inaugural Ballybunion Road Races in 2005] and Martin talked about packing it in, but his love for the sport brought him back to it. Sometimes it all goes wrong and that’s the very unfortunate thing about it.”

In 2012, an inquest into Finnegan’s death determined that ‘in all probability a loose banjo bolt caused his front brake to fail’.

A married father-of-one, over 10,000 people attended his funeral.