King’s Lynn racer Chris Harris finished runner-up in a Great Britain one-two in the FIM Long Track World Championship after a dramatic season finale in Roden.
Harris scooped silver for the second time in three years, but it was agonisingly close to a first-ever gold for the 42-year-old who briefly held a title-winning position in the final at the Dutch venue.
Harris and Zach Wajtknecht, who had been part of GB’s victorious Long Track of Nations team one week earlier, found themselves in a direct battle for the individual crown after previous leader Lukas Fienhage remarkably failed to make the final.
Harris needed to beat Wajtknecht by two places in the final, or by one to force a run-off, but he was going off the unfavoured gate four after seeing his scoring restricted by earlier mechanical trouble.
Despite that, he got the drop on Wajtknecht outside him and as they went up the back straight, Harris was in second place and Wajtknecht fourth, which would have been enough for the title.
However, Wajtknecht then pulled off a brilliant ride to go past Mathias Tresarrieu and then maintained his outside line to round Harris off turn four.
He was then content to sit behind leader Dave Meijerink, knowing second place would be enough, leaving Harris third on the day and four points behind in total, as both riders overhauled Fienhage in the standings with Wajtnkecht becoming the first British winner of the Long Track crown for 25 years.
