THE local motorcycling fraternity is in shock at the tragic death of Martin Finnegan at the weekend.
Finnegan, from near Dublin, was competing for the Ballymoney-based JMF Millsport Racing Team when he crashed at the Tandragee 100 meeting on Saturday.
The 27-year-old from Lusk crashed at Marlacoo Corner on the County Armagh circuit.
Minutes be
fore the crash he had been celebrating his first ever win at Tandragee.
However, his heartbroken father, Jim, said that he didn't want to see racing banned there, despite two fatal accidents in successive years.
"My feelings are very raw, but Martin loved the sport; I love the sport and I have lost my son to it, but my views have not changed, absolutely not," he told our sister paper, the News Letter.
"I wouldn't want racing at Tandragee to be banned and neither would Martin."
Three spectators, two males and a female, were hurt in the same incident, although their injuries were reported as non life-threatening.
“If you were to talk to any of the riders, they always know that there is a possibility that they could be killed," Jim Finnegan continued.
"Martin knew this, but the riders love the sport and that is the reason they do it - because of the sport.”
The full article contains 215 words and appears in Ballymoney Times newspaper.
