RICHARD Sawatski is the fastest 58-year-old on two wheels in Minehead – the seven-times national motorcycle drag-racing champion can reach 100mph in six seconds from a standing start.

Richard has just won his fourth successive UK 9.50 drag bike national championship, tightening his domination of a perilous sport involving screaming along a quarter-mile track at speeds exceeding 150 mph.

Most weekends throughout the summer, Richard leaves his day job as a mechanic with a Minehead garage and with his wife Debbie as his support team, loads his specially-modified 1300cc Suzuki Hayabusa bike into a big white van to defend his titles against riders who are often almost half his age.

Richard is the oldest rider on the championship circuit and has been using the same bike for 17 years: “I keep fit and I’ve been lucky to avoid serious accidents. People ask when I’m going to call it a day, but one of my toughest rivals was 67 when he retired and was still on top of his form.

“I used to be very competitive but now I’m more relaxed and I think that can be an advantage. The younger riders are desperate to win and that means they’re more likely to make mistakes.”

Growing up on the family’s Roadwater farm, Richard cannot remember a time when he wasn’t involved with motorbikes: “We rode old bikes around the fields and I went with my brothers to drag races as a spectator. I suppose that was when I caught the racing bug.”

But it was not until the 1980s that Richard actually became a competitor.

Read his story in this week’s Free Press (January 25)