Steve 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, or bicycle, making the whole a three-wheeled vehicle. A motorcycle with a sidecar is sometimes called a ''combination'', an ''outfit'', a ''rig'' or a ''hack''. ...

racer who has won six FIM 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 motorcycling newspaper published by Bauer Consumer Media, based in Peterborough, United Kingdom. It claims to be "the world’s biggest weekly motorcycle newspaper". The title was founded in ...

'', 9 February 2016. Retrieved 5 August 2016

Career

Born in

Easingwold Easingwold is a market town, electoral ward and civil parish in the Hambleton District 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 ...

, 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 Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural Grands Prix), is a name sometimes used for competitions or sport events, alluding to the winner receiving a prize, trophy or honour Grand Prix or grand prix may refer to: Arts and entertainment ...

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 FIM Sidecar World Championship on 10 occasions (1987, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2003, and 2004), with Tony Hewitt, Gavin Simmons,

David James Dewi, Dai, Dafydd or David James may refer to: Performers *David James (actor, born 1839) (1839–1893), English stage comic and a founder of London's Vaudeville Theatre *David James (actor, born 1967) (born 1967), Australian presenter of ABC's ''P ...

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'', is an annual Dutch motorsport event established in 1925 for road racing motorcycles held on the TT Circuit Assen, also known as the ‘Cathedral of Speed'. The event attained world champi ...

Assen Assen () is a municipality and a city in the northeastern Netherlands, and is the capital of the province of Drenthe. It received city rights in 1809. Assen is known for TT Circuit Assen, the motorcycle racing circuit, where on the last Sund ...

, 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 the recipient of the Segrave Trophy in 1991. The same year, he was awarded the MBE. 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, between Leicester and Hinckley, in central England. Originally used for grass-track until 1955, a new, basically oval hard-surfaced course ...

.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 {{England-motorcycle-racing-bio-stub