I have the same exact problem, only the opposite. I have a US Dreamcast, and I'm trying to get a PAL Shenmue to boot on it. I'm using the Utopian Boot Disc 1.1 and it stops at 95% just like he says.
Before I buy a Gameshark/Action Replay is it a sure thing that they will boot this game? I used to have a Gameshark CD-X, and I had no idea it booted imports (otherwise I probably would have kept it).
*EDIT* I found a Gameshark Lite (same as GS CD-X, but doesn't come with the CDX memory card) for $8 on eBay and it boots up Shenmue from different region, no problem. :cheers I guess Utopian Boot Disc was made to load backups and other software not on GD-ROM. Gameshark/Action Replay was designed to load imports.