SIDECAR passenger Fiona Baker-Milligan, whose debut at the Isle of Man TT Races ended in a fireball, has won the Ron Coxon Trophy for "perseverence in the face of adversity".
Fiona, from Kendal, whose driver partner is Mick Harvey, of Goole, escaped without serious injury when flames suddenly engulfed the 600cc Suzuki sidecar in which they were lying eighth on the Manx circuit.
It was a despairing end after a promising 16th in the opening race of the TT and they faced weeks of hard work and fund-raising to rebuild the bike.
Having slipped to 25th place in the championship by their return, they built their confidence back up and gained consistent top-10 places to claw their way to a creditable 12th place finish overall.
Fiona had a busy season competing in two other sidecar championships with her father Tony Baker, from Penrith, finishing second overall in both the Scottish Melville Formula Two and the Scottish Northern championships.
Now she is looking forward to the new season, which starts in early April at Croft near Darlington, and entries for the TT races are already in the post.
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