THE 2007 European Motor Cycle Grass Track Championship finals attracted over 3,000 spectators to Swingfield near Folkestone at the weekend, as Europe’s top riders battled it out for the sport’s major title.

Despite dusty conditions the large crowd were treated to a feast of action with eventual glory going to Dutchman Theo Pijper who took his second European title with a clear-cut victory in the final.

The 18 competitors each raced four times with the top six moving through to the grand finale. England’s Andrew Appleton led the qualifiers with an unbeaten performance during the heats and looked the outstanding favourite to take his first major title.

Pijper, Mathias Kroger of Germany and new British champion Glen Phillips also made the title-deciding final.

These four were joined by the top two finishers from the last chance race convincingly won by Holland’s Dirk Fabriek. Second to Fabriek was British Under-21 Champion Lewis Denham but he was excluded from the race having run outside the track markers, leaving defending champion Stephan Katt of Germany as the last qualifier.

As the six finalists left the start line for the all deciding final, it was Pijper who led the charge into the first bend.

Appleton, the pre-race favourite, made a slow getaway and could only manage fourth place as the riders raced along the back straight. In second was Katt who chased Pijper for the entire race but at the chequered flag finished a clear 30 metres behind, leaving the Dutchman as the new champion of Europe.

Appleton managed to claw his way through into third place but was, in his own words, “devastated” at not taking the title.