AN Ingleton Motorcycle racer returned to action for the 2022 National Championship on Norfolk’s Snetterton Circuit.
Round six of the CRMC Championship was held this weekend with Harley Rushton back in action on the course.
This was the penultimate round of the series where championships can be wrap up and decided but some were still very closely contested.
The weekend started with practice and qualifying.
Harley secured 4th place on the grid for both ACU Races of the weekend.
He then qualified 2nd on the grid for all the club races across the weekend in the Post Classic 350 Grand Prix, Classic 500 and Classic 350 classes.
Race one of the weekends was the Classic 350 where Harley took the class victory for the 350 Twins.
This was the first of three victories over the weekend aboard the Craven Honda to continue Harley’s 100% win to finish ratio.
With this he was confirmed as the 2022 350 twin’s championship as no one can mathematically overtake him.
The first Post Classic 350 GP Race saw Harley take an early lead which he help until Ant Hart overtook him on the penultimate lap until a gearbox problem forced him to retire from the race. Harley claimed victories over Scott Carson in the following two 350GP races aboard his Craven TZ to make it 3 wins from 3 starts.
The final 350GP race of the weekend saw Harley and Scott battle it out with Scott taking the final win. Harley’s strong 2nd place in this contest added to his points haul from the weekend to extend his championship lead over Ant Hart who was plagued with issue from Saturday afternoon. This meant Harley is confirmed as the Post Classic 350GP champion as his points lead has now extended so that Ant is unable to catch him. The Craven Manx Norton was brought straight from the Isle of Man Road races to Snetterton for Harley to race. As it is the toughest race on Classic machinery the bike was suffering unfortunately with a lack of top end speed.
Harley brought the bike home to second podium finished before a mechanical issue meant it was retired from race 3 for the remainder of the weekend. The ACU post Classic race was the “Snetterton Race of Aces” Harley was out on his 350cc TZ Yamaha against all the higher capacity Superbike machines. A strong performance saw Harley finish in 3rd position overall and 2nd in class. The second ACU race of the day was for the Craven Honda where Harley competed in the 350 Classic ACU championship.
After a long and lonely race Harley finished 3rd overall and was the first 350cc machine which meant he clinched the ACU 350 Classic Championship before the final round at next month at Croft.
Harley said: “I came to Snetterton after 2 rounds struggling for ultimate pace to challenge for race wins aboard the Craven TZ in the Post Classic 350GP races.
“In the first race I found myself taking the lead early on where I held it for the majority of the race. Unfortunately miss fortunes for Ant Hart meant I could capitalise and stretch my championship lead.
“This ultimately helped me to claim the championship a round early but finding myself with the pace to take race leads and fight for the victories but me back in a position I felt like I belonged. Confirming the 3 Championships this weekend really took the pressure off for myself and the team at Croft for the final round.
“We can go there and just perform at the highest level we can to fight for race of the year accolades.
“The Craven Honda has performed brilliantly all season and has ran faultlessly throughout some hard fought races.
“We have archived more than we set out to do this year already which is great. The reliability and performance of Ted’s Craven Classic Racing Bikes has helped me to achieve these results.
“We have been together through the highs and lows of this season as a team and can go to enjoy the final round of racing for our home race at Croft Circuit, the first weekend in October.”
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