MATCH REPORT: Super Steve makes it five

September 2, 2016 editor

On the opening day of the British Championships, Swindon played host to the Over 40s Veterans championships on Saturday 27th August.

The weather started off pleasant, with the track in its best condition all season, little did anyone know what was about to come.

Despite struggling for entries this year, the field looked competitive with no rider having a ‘dream draw’, with all the riders taking points off of one another at various stages throughout the encounter.

After two heats each, both Mark Whitehead and Steve Harris lead the way with Paul Graham, Mark Winwood and Craig Marchant giving chase.

At this point however the racing was halted twice in a matter of races due to a unprecedented thunder storm, which not only lead to the local League One football match being postponed, but seriously put the outcome of this final in jeopardy.

Heavy rain severely threatened the meeting. Photo by Andrew Davison.

However, the drainage at Swindon proved its worth and wishing 20 minutes of the storm passing the racing was able to continue, albeit it much heavier conditions for the rest of the meeting.

Going into the final heats, Mark Whitehead and Mark Winwood finished heat 16 on 18 points apiece to leave themselves with an outside chance of the title and a tasty Heat 17 to come.

Martyn Hollebon on gate 1, Craig Marchant gate 2 and Steve Harris on gate 4. A win for Steve would mean winning a fifth Veterans title outright, yet second behind Marchant could have possibly lead to a four man run-off.

Needless to say as the tapes went up and Marchant had not gated Hollebon, his eyes we immediately drawn to Harris to try to prevent him using all his home track knowledge to get to the front.

As the race progressed and Marchant got caught trying to make a move on Hollebon going into the 3rd bend, Harris caught them napping, somehow forced himself underneath and to the front to race away to victory.

Harris chooses his moment in heat 17 to clinch the title. Photo by Andrew Davison.

Credit must be given to all riders and officials on what was a tiring day to keep the meeting flowing in front of a healthy crowd.

But the final word must go to Steve, who won his 5th Outdoor Veterans title, his 15th British title in total (5 Outdoor Vets, 4 Indoor Vets, 6 Indoor Open) in classy style to show that commitment and dedication does pay off.

Not satisfied with just this result, he flew to Poland the next morning to help his Polish Club to victory, in what is becoming a close title race over there too.