Stephen Webster MBE (born 7 January 1960), is an English

sidecar A sidecar is a one-wheeled device attached to the side of a motorcycle, Scooter (motorcycle), scooter, or bicycle, making the whole a three-wheeled vehicle. The combination of a motorcycle with a sidecar is sometimes called a ''rig'', ''outfit' ...

racer who has won six

FIM FIM may refer to: Organizations and companies * Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme, the International Motorcycling Federation * Flint Institute of Music, in Michigan, United States * Fox Interactive Media, now News Corp. Digital Media * ...

Sidecar World Championships and four world cup, making him the most successful

racer ever.Whatever happened to Steve Webster MBE?
, ''

Motorcycle News ''MCN'' or ''Motor Cycle News'' is a UK weekly Motorcycle, motorcycling newspaper published by Bauer Verlagsgruppe, Bauer Consumer Media, based in Peterborough, United Kingdom. It claims to be "the world’s biggest weekly motorcycle newspape ...

'', 9 February 2016. Retrieved 5 August 2016

Career

Born in

Easingwold Easingwold is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. Historically, part of the North Riding of Yorkshire, it had a population of 4,233 at the 2001 census, increasing to 4,627 at the 2011 Census. I ...

, North Yorkshire, Webster began as a 19-year-old racing at club level, first racing at the Elvington Airfield circuit near York,SUPERSIDE: Steve Webster retired after Assen race
, motorsport.com, 7 September 2005. Retrieved 5 August 2016 and quickly moved up to national and then world championship in 1983, winning his first world championship in 1987 while partnered with Tony Hewitt, riding an LCR- Yamaha machine. From 181 Grand Prix and World Cup races entered, he has had 62 wins, 37 second places and 27 third places as well as 82 pole positions. He has won the

Sidecar World Championship on 10 occasions (1987, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2003, and 2004), with Tony Hewitt, Gavin Simmons, David James and Paul Woodhead. In 1985 Webster and Hewitt had a massive crash at the

Dutch TT The Dutch Tourist Trophy, also known as the ''TT Assen'', and also sometimes known as the Dutch Motorcycle Grand Prix, is an annual Dutch motorsport event established in 1925 for road racing motorcycles held on the TT Circuit Assen, also known ...

Assen Assen () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Northeastern Netherlands, and is the capital (politics), capital of the province of Drenthe. It received City rights in ...

, shown many times on television where the sidecar left the track at high speed, slid along the grass before hitting a drainage ditch. The accident caused the pair to miss most of the season. Webster was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(MBE) in the 1990 Birthday Honours for services to sidecar racing. He was the recipient of the Segrave Trophy in 1991. In 2004 Webster won British, European, and World titles, but in 2005 Webster announced his retirement after health problems prevented him finishing the season. In 2006, Webster received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Auto Cycle Union. In 2015, Webster was reunited with Hewitt on track, the pair taking part in a test event at

Mallory Park Mallory Park is a motor racing circuit situated in the village of Kirkby Mallory, just off the A47 road, A47, between Leicester and Hinckley, in central England. Originally used for Grass track racing, grass-track until 1955, a new, basicall ...

.Hansard, Natalie (2015)
Sidecar Racing Legends Webster and Hewitt Back on Track
, malloryparkcircuit.com, 16 March 2015. Retrieved 5 August 2016

References

Living people English motorcycle racers Members of the Order of the British Empire Segrave Trophy recipients 1960 births Sidecar racers People from Easingwold 20th-century English sportsmen {{England-motorcycle-racing-bio-stub