Rob McElnea
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rob McElnea | |
Nationality | British |
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Grand Prix motorcycle racing career | |
Active years | 1983 - 1989 |
Teams | Yamaha, Suzuki |
Grands Prix | 71 |
Championships | 0 |
Wins | 0 |
Podium finishes | 0 |
Career points | 275.5 |
Pole positions | 0 |
Fastest laps | 0 |
First Grand Prix | 1984 500cc Austrian Grand Prix |
Last Grand Prix | 1989 500cc Brazilian Grand Prix |
Rob McElnea (born December 12, 1959) is a retired motorcycle road racer, who won three Isle of Man TT races, and with a best of fifth overall in Grands Prix.
Having won the Senior Manx Grand Prix in 1980, his TT wins followed in 1983 and 1984, and he won a round of the TT F1 World Championship in 1983. He competed for six seasons in 500cc Grand Prix - for Heron Suzuki, Marlboro Yamaha, Pepsi Suzuki [1] and Cabin Honda. Despite finishing fourth eight times, luck went against him and he never quite secured a podium result. He then finished 5th overall in the Superbike World Championship in 1990 [2], for Loctite Yamaha. Rob then moved back to domestic competition, winning the British 750cc/TT F1 championship in 1991 with the same team [3]. His career was ended by injury in 1993.
He now runs the Virgin Mobile Yamaha team in the British Superbike Championship. With Cadbury's Boost sponsorship in the 1990s and rider Niall Mackenzie, the team won three successive championships, 1996-1998. They have been less successful in the 21st century, although Steve Plater, James Haydon and Tommy Hill have won BSB races for them. For 2008 they run Karl Harris [4]. McElnea also helps run the Virgin Mobile Cup series for upcoming riders [5] and, from 2007, a British Supersport team [6].