Career
Born 29 July 1962 Cullybackey, Ballymena, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. Died 13 September 1986 (aged only 24 years) at Hull Royal Infirmary Hospital. An exceptionally talented (and fearless) motorcycle track, circuit and road racer from Ballymena, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, Robinson was killed during a practice session at Oliver"s Mount racing circuit, Scarborough, West Yorkshire.
Robinson retired with a blown engine.
Neil "Smutty" Robinson was on the threshold of what promised to be a brilliant international career when he became the 13th rider to die on the Oliver"s Mount circuit at Scarborough. The twenty-three-year-old was racing at the circuit for the first time and crashed in dense undergrowth and trees on the uphill Quarry Hills section on his sixth lap of practice.
He suffered head injuries and a broken leg, and died in the evening in Hull Royal Infirmary in Scarborough after being conveyed there by the racing circuit ambulance escorted by two police motorcycle outriders. Maybe not at the TT, but at the Ulster and the North West 200 for sure.
He was mega". Neil "Smutty" Robinson"s name remains a very popular one among the Northern Ireland road racing / Isle of Manitoba TT fraternity.
His racing circuit exploits in such a short period remain unsurpassed. Tragically, Neil"s older brother Donny Robinson was killed in a racing accident at the 1999 North West 200 at Coleraine. He crashed heavily at the Ballysally Roundabout during 125cc (wet) practice and died the next morning at Coleraine Hospital from multiple injuries.
Forty-five-year-old Donny had retired from a glittering Grand Prix career in 1985 to concentrate on road racing.
