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along with winning the Skol Lager Trophy at Rye House and the Spring Cup
Classic at Romford, both in April with 15 and 13 points respectively. On 26 June he made his Young England debut at Ipswich, contributing 8+3 points in a resounding victory over Young Sweden. Again individual honours went his way in June first winning the Carnival Rosebowl at Romford with a 15-point maximum and then, in August, he finished second to Hugh Saunders, with 14 points, in the London Riders Championship. To top off his season Kevin gained more test caps in August, this time against a Young Czechoslovakia, top scoring with 15+1 and 14+1 at Ipswich. On 6 September he made his first division debut with Exeter, scoring 3 points in a defeat against Swindon. The Romford Bombers finished 12th in the second tier of British Speedway in 1971. He was selected for the Young England team that was to tour South Africa in the winter of 1971, however the tour was cancelled.
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and Phil Herne in a world championship round at Exeter. After an 11-point haul at
Wimbledon he reached the semi-final stage of the British Championship where he disappointingly failed to reach the final after scoring 4 points at Sheffield. However, his victory in the Express and Echo Championship at
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A tour to
Australia finally came to fruition during the winter of 1974–5. Joining Chris Morton, Nigel Boocock, Reg Wilson, Doug Wyer, Jim MacMillan and Eric Broadbelt, Kevin's tour was not a great success scoring 0, 4+2, 0, 0, 7+1, 2+1 and 1 points across the seven test matches against the Aussies.
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On 5 June Holden beat Phil
Woodcock in a run-off for the final Exeter team place and went on to score 6 points in their 51–27 victory over Ipswich. In September he took his first paid maximum in a victory over Wimbledon. Despite a poor season for the Falcons, Holden's debut year was a great success
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Grand Prix final at White City. En route to this major final Kevin finished 2nd to
Malcolm Simmons with 12.5 points at Poole and did well in qualifying rounds at Exeter (11), Coventry (8) and Newport (11). Up against the best riders in the world Kevin scored a creditable 5 points in the final. His
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West Ham closed its doors on 23 May after a defeat against Hull. Kevin won the last ever race at Custom House, co-held the track record and averaged 8.17 points in his 12 outings with the club. Some of the team transferred to Barrow however Kevin opted to join Exeter
Falcons in the first division.
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With
Romford closing Holden was transferred to West Ham in what was to be their final season. His season started well with a third place in a World Championship Preliminary Round at Peterborough in April and a second victory in the Skol Lager Trophy meeting at Rye House, taking a 15-point maximum.
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Kevin signed for
Romford Bombers on 26 March 1970. In his first season he achieved an average of 4.65 and won the Best Pairs Gold Trophy with his race-partner Barry Crowson. In his second season with the 'Bombers' Holden emerged as their number one rider securing and end of season average of 8.95
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from Exeter, following in the footsteps of his uncle Bill who rode for the
Pirates in the 1950s. Kevin started the season in great form taking a maximum 12 points against Wimbledon at Poole in March. He was hitting over a 9-point average but was killed during the home match against Reading on 27
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Holden was anxious to move away from Exeter however the great support that he received from the
Falcons fans during his injury saw him return to the County Ground in 1976. Again a British Final place eluded him however, his great individual successes of the season was qualifying for the Marlboro
236:(10). This win secured him an England first team place scoring 1 point (from 1 ride) in his debut against Sweden at King's Lynn, he took a paid maximum (6+3 from 3 rides) against Poland at Exeter and top scored with 15+2 (6 rides), whilst partnering
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The 1975 season was a mixed-bag and despite securing his place as the third heat leader at Exeter (alongside Mauger and Autrey) with a final average of 7.51 his season was cut-short with a broken leg sustained at Cradley in August.
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Starting the 1973 with a new bike, Kevin's average dipped to 6.00 in a season where he was an ever-present in the Exeter first team which also included new signings
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He fared little better in solo events. Although he classed the trip as valuable, the poor performance was, in part, down to being so homesick.
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Exeter in May was undoubtedly the highpoint of his career. With a 14-point score Holden took victory over world class opponents
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The tributes in the speedway press read 'The Sport has Lost a Great Bloke and 'Holden Killed as he aimed for the Top'.
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noted it was 'a sad loss to us all'. Kevin was buried at St John the Baptist church at North Baddesley in Hampshire.
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Southern Riders Final at Reading, finishing 6th in the Westernopolis at Exeter with 8 points and reaching the
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Heat 11, Grand Prix Final, White City. L-R Jim McMillan, Peter Collins, Kevin Holden, Billy Sanders
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club season ended with a 6.45 average, the team finished third in the title race.
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and cousin to Paul Holden, who later rode for Weymouth juniors. Kevin rode in the
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April. After sliding into the fence he ruptured a blood vessel of the heart.
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208:. Holden was again disappointed that a trip to New Zealand was cancelled.
614:"Kevin Holden -30 Years ago this week. | Exeter Falcons Discussion Forum"
219:, scoring a season average of 7.26. In April he finished fourth behind
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Kevin Holden was the nephew of Poole, Southampton and England rider
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673:"'If there is a bad crash on the first bend, it makes me shudder'"
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of British Speedway from 1972 to 1977, riding for various clubs.
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described it as 'a terrible tragedy' while the world champion
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rider from England. He earned five international caps for the
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ending up 4th in the averages with a respectable 6.06.
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268:At the beginning of the 1977 season he moved to
422:Crowsen 13+1 Holden 7+2 Speedway Star May 1970
232:(13), John Boulger (13), Phil Crump (11) and
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169:and seven caps for the Great Britain team.
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759:Motorcycle racers who died while racing
697:Speedway Star, Speedway Mail April 1977
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317:"Speedway riders, history and results"
161:(30 July 1950 – 27 April 1977) was a
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215:team that won the league during the
294:Rider deaths in motorcycle speedway
345:"IT HAPPENED ON THIS DAY.....1977"
211:Kevin was an integral part of the
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370:"ULTIMATE RIDER INDEX, 1929-2022"
558:West Ham Speedway Closes (1972)
637:Various Speedway Star's 1974-5
167:England national speedway team
1:
754:Sportspeople from Southampton
652:www.speedwayresearcher.org.uk
431:Speedway Star results section
442:"A Tribute To Tommy Jansson"
618:exeterfalcons.proboards.com
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217:1974 British League season
592:speedwayresearcher.org.uk
535:speedwayresearcher.org.uk
506:speedwayresearcher.org.uk
477:speedwayresearcher.org.uk
449:speedwayresearcher.org.uk
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764:Sport deaths in England
749:West Ham Hammers riders
724:British speedway riders
744:Romford Bombers riders
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16:British speedway rider
729:Exeter Falcons riders
561:, British Pathé, 1972
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739:Poole Pirates riders
734:Newport Wasps riders
163:motorcycle speedway
159:Kevin George Holden
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594:. 12 January 2015
537:. 12 January 2015
398:"History Archive"
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71:British (English)
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679:. 27 April 2007
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479:. 19 March 2014
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404:. 3 March 2017
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63:(aged 26)
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59:27 April 1977
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254:Daily Mirror
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225:Barry Briggs
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206:Scott Autrey
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135:Team honours
61:(1977-04-27)
39:30 July 1950
22:Kevin Holden
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719:1977 deaths
714:1950 births
598:1 September
541:1 September
512:1 September
483:1 September
454:1 September
278:Ivan Mauger
221:Ivan Mauger
202:Ivan Mauger
179:Bill Holden
68:Nationality
49:Southampton
708:Categories
321:wwosbackup
300:References
43:1950-07-30
683:9 January
657:9 January
623:9 January
565:9 January
382:21 August
234:Ole Olsen
101:1971–1976
81:1970–1971
51:, England
648:"Exeter"
288:See also
183:top tier
148:Champion
408:29 July
354:29 July
326:29 July
41: (
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685:2022
659:2022
625:2022
600:2023
567:2022
543:2023
514:2023
485:2023
456:2023
410:2021
384:2023
356:2021
328:2021
204:and
141:1974
121:1977
111:1972
91:1970
56:Died
36:Born
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