VOL. 50 ISSUE 48 DECEMBER 3, 2013
M
ichael Dunlop, the man who
won four Isle of Man TTs
this year, says he may not race
in 2014.
In an interview with BBC Sport
in Northern Ireland, Dunlop says
his 2014 road-racing season is
in serious doubt as he has been
unable to come to a contract extension with Honda. The 24 year
old, however, says it's not about
money.
"It's definitely not about money," Dunlop told the BBC. "When
you are dealing with contracts [in
road racing], you are arguing over
a couple of hundred pounds.
Also, I don't need any more publicity. I do my talking on the track.
Dunlop also admitted to the
BBC that he has struggled for
motivation in recent months.
"At this moment in time, nothing has come up that fulfills what
I want to do," he said. "Also, I
need to make sure that I'm going
to enjoy myself so those factors
are really my reasoning."
But he says he's definitely not
retiring.
"There's a difference between
retirement and thinking if it's not
going to work [for 2014], that
it's not going to work," he said.
"That's why I didn't want to make
a big deal of it but everybody
else seems to have done that."
Dunlop is the youngest in a long
line of road racing heroes. His
uncle Joey Dunlop was the most
successful racer in Isle of Man TT
history with 26 wins and his brother Robert won five TTs. Both were
killed in racing accidents with Joey
passing away from a crash in Estonia and Robert dying at the 2008
North West 200.
"People say it's a dangerous
sport and that you are mad in
the head and if I'm honest, yeah,
I have a little touch in the head
and I'm probably not the full
square," Dunlop told the BBC.
"But at the end of the day, I'm not
battering women or taking drugs.
I'll never be another Joey Dunlop
or a Robert Dunlop. They were
special men in special times. I'm
Michael and that's who I am going to be."
Michael Dunlop
says he might
not be racing in
2014.
PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF HONDA
DUNLOP TO MISS TT?
P29
