Jonathan Rea pays emotional tribute to Joey Dunlop on way to best result of season at Donington
Rea unveiled a custom-made replica of the Ballymoney great's iconic yellow Arai helmet, which he wore to pay homage to Joey, 25 years after he lost his life while competing at a race in Tallinn, Estonia on July 2, 2000.
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BBC News
3 days ago
- BBC News
Ballymena United honour young fan's life with new kit design
Ballymena United's manager has said a 21-year-old fan who died in a car crash will always be in their hearts after she is honoured in their new kit. Lydia Ross, who was from the Ballymoney area, died after sustaining serious injuries in a single-vehicle crash in County Londonderry in December 2023. In memory of Lydia, Ballymena United have featured a sky blue ribbon on the front of their third kit for the 2025/26 team's manager, Jim Ervin, said that the "shirt represents Lydia, Paul and the family". He said he "very rarely missed" a Ballymena United football match with Lydia and remembers the events as "special" memories."You're there win, lose, or draw, and that was the way we did it. "It was just me and her - they always say I spoiled her", Mr Ross told BBC Radio Ulster's Good Morning Ulster programme."We have been carried the whole 17 months by so many people, we just can't get over it, and it's still coming."The likes of this, the video, the third kit, there's just always somethings been there in front of us, especially for me to focus on, which gives us great strength that people want to do what they do." Mr Ross said he and Lydia were lucky enough to meet some of the players when they attended matches."The players were all so nice and so welcoming. Her favourite was Steven McCullough."Mr Ross said his late daughter "would not believe" what he is doing."Even though I'm a sales rep and I talk all day, every day, I'm not a good public speaker. "My voice would go at different things, but she won't believe I'm doing this out front, standing at the away." The team's new third kit features blue and grey diagonal stripes with a small sky blue ribbon design in the middle in line with the club crest, in reference to Mr Ross' fundraising campaign. A contribution from all the sales of the shirt will be donated to Air Ambulance NI, a charity Lydia's family has been raising money for since her funeral. Ballymena United manager Jim Ervin said that the "shirt now represents more than just Ballymena United".He added: "I think it goes to show what Paul and Paul's family mean to everybody associated with Ballymena and also the Irish League, and what Paul has done through this last 17 months in supporting and keeping Lydia's memory going."She's certainly someone that at Ballymena we'll always have her in our hearts, and she'll always be very close, like Paul and Paul's family. "We'll always be there to try and help support them as much as we possibly can."Mr Ervin said he knows that Lydia would have been "very proud" of her father.
Belfast Telegraph
5 days ago
- Belfast Telegraph
Jonathan Rea bids to make swift amends after being left frustrated by double crash in Hungary
Jonathan Rea crashed twice in the opening World Superbike race in Hungary on Saturday in a 'frustrating' start to the Eighth Round of the Championship for the Northern Ireland man.
BBC News
5 days ago
- BBC News
Rea crashes twice as Razgatlioglu wins in Hungary
Jonathan Rea crashed twice in Saturday's opening World Superbike race of the weekend in Hungary as Toprak Razgatlioglu won to increase his advantage at the top of the championship was a seventh straight race win for the Turkish rider, who had taken his BMW to successive hat-tricks at the and Misano and Donington rounds to assume the series first attempt to run Saturday's race was halted after a crash involving seven riders at the opening chicane, but when the restart got under way it was Razgatlioglu who took control at the head of the field and extended his cushion over the chasing Locatelli, Nicolo Bulega and Alvaro Bautista were all in the mix for the podium positions behind the two-time down the order, Rea crashed his Pata Yamaha at turn one with six laps of the 20 remaining while sitting in eighth place but re-mounted, falling back into 18th six-time champion from Northern Ireland crashed again one lap later however and this time was unable to rejoin the field because of damage to his Razgatlioglu prevailed by 3.7 seconds to win, with Bulega second, his Duacti team-mate Bautista third, then Locatelli, Danilo Petrucci and Alex Lowes making up the top now leads Bulega by nine points at the top of the championship standings, with the Superpole and Race Two still to come at the Balaton Park circuit on a number of riders involved in the crash in the initial running took part in the restarted race, Honda rider Iker Lecuona and Yamaha-mounted Remy Gardner both received treatment in the medical was later diagnosed with a left wrist fracture while Gardner was transported to hospital with a back contusion and suspected concussion.
