KENT rider Toby Markham took a convincing victory in the final European Championship meeting, held at the Cartagena Circuit, Spain last weekend.

The teenager from Ashford hit the front mid way through the first lap. He then built a commanding lead and was never headed.

He eventually won the race by over 4.3 seconds from German rider Joshua Sommer, with Dutch rider Hans Smees in third place.

It left the BM Groundworks rider an excellent fourth overall in his rookie year in the 250cc class.

In the worst possible conditions, a wet but drying track, Markham came from his second row (8th place) starting grid position to enter the first corner in sixth.

Only a few corners later he had climbed to third and by the mid part of the lap, he took the lead from reigning European Champion, Spain’s Alvaro Molina.

By the end of lap one, Markham lead the race by over 2.2 seconds. Although all but one rider in the field was running full wet weather tyres, Markham understood the importance of building a lead before the track dried.

He continued to push hard and in the first 10 laps he built nearly a 10 second lead on second placed rider Sommer who was able to pull back some time but Markham’s lead was never in doubt. He took victory in the 24 lap race by over 4.3 seconds.