‘It’s in the blood. We don’t give up’
● Emotions run high as Kershaw savours British title triumph three years after life-changing crash
Three years ago, as he lay in a hospital bed with a broken back, Steve Kershaw thought not of F1 podiums but whether he and his motorcycling partner would ever walk again.
The idea of returning to world racing tracks was not on any horizon. Kershaw did eventually leave that hospital under his own steam but his teammate Rob Wilson did not. The impact of the 100 miles per hour crash at Scotland’s Knockhill circuit had irretrievably damaged his spine and left him facing up to life in a wheelchair.
Steve, then 28, was the driver of the motorbike, 48-year-old Rob the flying sidecar expert, and the Scots were leading competitors in the British F1 Sidecar Championship. To hear of the trauma both went through on the track when a mechanical failure sent them careering straight off a bend and into the fences, and listen to Steve’s voice go as he struggles to recount the physical torture of recovering from his own broken body, along with the mental stress of accepting that the man who had been beside him throughout his racing career would never walk again is to begin to understand the tears of a different kind that are flowing now.
Kershaw last month stood atop the podium at Cadwell Park in Lincolnshire, having claimed the British Sidecar F1 Championship for the first time, with new team-mate Stuart Clark having taken on the sidecar role. This weekend, the championship comes to an end at Brands Hatch where the wrists, hand and fingers, and pair will be afforded a royal ovation, at had to wear a thoracic brace for three least once the races have crossed the months. And I was the lucky one. Rob finish line. broke his back, neck, collarbone, ribs –
“Obviously, you’re just overwhelmed just smashed himself to bits – was paralysed now,” Steve explained, “hence the tears. and spent six months on his back Since I first got into bikes as a kid I said in hospital. And, yet, we both knew we ‘I want to be a British champion’, so it were lucky just to be here. has been fantastic. It sounds strange, “We’re still very close and I wouldn’t but you feel complete as have come back racing a rider really. had it not been for the
“Which is ironic,” he support of Rob, his wife added, the smile disappearing, Mary and my family. He “because you’re couldn’t be at Cadwell, also thinking of Rob and because … ironically the journey we’ve had; his really, he was at a circuit wife Mary, my wife Rhea in Lanarkshire racing an and one-year-old son adapted Audi race car! I Niall, and the dark times. phoned him and we had The memory is still vivid a great chat. He was over of Rob and I lying in the moon for us.” that hospital with broken The big fear of motorsport, backs, collarbones, STEVE KERSHAW technical problems, wrists, ribs, necks and all reared their head that carry-on, thinking ‘this is the end’. again only recently when Kershaw
“When the accident happened I was Racing was forced out of the penultimate knocked out and apparently the marshals championship event, the European thought the worst when they got leg in Assen in Holland, but the to us and there were no obvious signs pair are now focused on finishing in of life. I came away with my back broken style at Brands Hatch. Winning the title in three places, broken ribs, sternum, after just eight rounds allowed them to
0 Kershaw, front left, and Clark celebrate last month’s British title triumph savour becoming the first Scots to win the British title in 37 years.
But even that brought its own tragic memories. Back at Knockhill to win the recent Jock Taylor Memorial Trophy recalled the disaster of three years ago, the event having written into its legend the danger of the sport. Taylor, from Pencaitland, was the last British champion, in 1980 and 1981, and was World Champion in 1980, with Swedish passenger Benga Johansson.
Taylor was killed at the Finnish Grand Prix at Imatra in 1982, aged just 28, when his bike aquaplaned off the circuit and into a telegraph pole. He survived the initial crash, but as rescue crews were working to free him from the smashed bike another flew off the track and into his, killing the Scot instantly.
Memorials have been erected to Taylor in Pencaitland, near the old racing circuit at Beveridge Park in Kirkcaldy, and at Imatra.
“Jock was a true legend and to be the first Scot to win the British title since him is an incredible honour,” said Kershaw. “Rob and I were proud to win Jock’s memorial event in 2014 and while, of course, there is darkness associated with it now for us, Stuart and I have have gone back and won it, and defended it, which is what Rob and I were trying to do on that day.
“Now we will celebrate what we’ve achieved this year with Rob, and then we want to go on and defend the British Championship as Jock did, and maybe get some wildcard races in the World Championship next year before having a crack at the world title ourselves.
“We know the dangers, we know the risks,” Kershaw added, “but Rob, Mary and my and Stuart’s families are a huge part of this. They give us the confidence to go out there and race.
“We’ve all been through a lot. Some people think we’re mad, but it’s what we do; it’s in the blood, we don’t give up and it’s paid off. You’ve got to look forward.”
“I had my back broken in three places, broken ribs, sternum, wrists and fingers, and wore a thoracic brace for three months. And I was the lucky one.”