'If there is a bad crash on the first bend, it makes me shudder'

She still can't believe how the 26-year-old rider was killed in such an innocuous fall going into the first bend of the second lap in heat five of the Dorset club's cup match against Reading.

It was on Wednesday, April 27, 1977 that Holden, who had only joined Pirates on a full transfer at the beginning of that season, paid the ultimate price for his love of racing speedway.

He was trying to overtake Racers' Bob Humphreys for third place, with race leader Dave Jessup and Pete Smith out in front, when he ran out of space, "couldn't make the turn" and slid fatally into the fence.

Holden, whose father George was at the meeting and whose uncle was ex-Poole rider Bill Holden, was later confirmed to have died of "a rupture to the main blood vessel of the heart."

The coroner stressed the rider's death was a "pure accident" and that "no more needs to be done to ensure safety at the Poole track."

Looking back on that fateful night, Marian, part of a stunned 5,000 crowd, said: "Kevin's crash didn't look that serious at first.

"We see riders take a lot worse now and get up and walk away. That is what was really shocking about it. It didn't really look like much at all.

"I didn't think he was badly injured to start with. But once he didn't get up very quickly we realised that something was wrong."

Once promoter Jack Knott announced Holden had died, most supporters walked silently away from the stadium, many in tears, the same as current Pirates team manager Neil Middleditch, who also rode for Poole in the meeting.

Others, like Marian, sat in the stand or stood on the terraces motionless and in shock.

Marian, watching from near the fourth bend, said: "I just felt total disbelief.

"I hadn't been going to speedway long, the year before I started, and it was the first serious crash I think I'd seen.

"In fact, it is the only fatal one I've seen and I've been going to Poole on and off since 1976.

"Even today if there is a bad crash on the first bend it makes me shudder because it is where Kevin got killed.

"I feel uneasy about it, and I'm surprised it is 30 years ago because it doesn't seem like that.

"My husband Ray was a storeman at Poole Hospital, but he used to have to go to the mortuary.

"He said he happened to see Kevin and noticed he didn't have a mark on him. The fact he died of a burst blood artery would explain that.

"I still feel sad about it now because it was such a shock and I hope nothing like that happens again at Poole.

"That's why it's so good they have air fences in place now. If they had got those earlier it might have stopped a few more deaths over the years.

"I'm not sure I went back the next week, I think it was a couple of weeks later I returned. But I love speedway, just like all speedway fans, so it didn't seem the wrong thing to do.

"I know some of my brother Steve's friends didn't go again after that, though. I can only assume it was because of what happened.

"We all know speedway is a dangerous sport, but at the same time we know all the riders love riding speedway and that's why they do it.

"They are a tough lot. Only a couple of weeks ago I was surprised Greg Hancock and Edward Kennett both walked away from a third bend fall like they did relatively uninjured.

"It was a far worse crash than Kevin Holden's was."

Holden's death is the only one sustained on-track at Poole since speedway began there in 1948.

Reg Craven (1948), Johnny Thomson (1955) and Malcolm Flood (1956) all died in hospital after crashing.