IN a career spanning nearly 20 years, sidecar racer Dave Holden has won hundreds of races.

But few have given the Blackburn businessman as much satisfaction as the victory he took at Mallory Park last weekend.

For Dave, who owns Blackburn Grand Prix Karting, won the Stan Cooper Memorial Trophy meeting - held in memory of the man who was his life-long friend and mechanic.

"It was a race I had to win, and it was a very emotional moment when I crossed the winning line," explained Dave.

"Stan was a sidecar racer himself, and I'm proud to say we were best friends through all the years of competing together.

"I was devastated when Stan was killed in an accident in an Irish road race in 1995, which left his passenger crippled for life.

"I've won nearly 40 championships in my time, including the British title in 1990, but this win was very special.

"I really felt under pressure to win, and in the first race of the day I crashed into the straw bales because I was just trying too hard.

"But when it came to Stan's race, there was just no way anyone was going to get past me."

There wasn't a dry eye in the pit lane when Stan's widow, Wendy, presented the trophy to Dave on the podium, in front of both families.

And in a poignant gesture, Dave then took Stan's former sidecar passenger, Mark Dyke, for an emotional lap of honour of the Leicestershire circuit.

Victory last weekend made it two wins out of two for Dave and his team, which consists of passenger Richard Jacques, from Preston, and machanic Phil Dewhurst, from Blackburn.

The pair won 29 races last year, taking five major championships - including the Oulton and North-west titles - on a Ireson 700cc two-stroke outfit.

This year they are aiming to repeat that phenomenal success with the support of several north-west companies, including THG Motor Bodies of Longridge, Kev Shanley Motor Engineers and Canterbury Street MOT Centre, both Blackburn, and West Coast Motorcycles of Southport.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.