Melton racer Antony Hart cuts honeymoon short and wins title

Cutting short his honeymoon paid off for classic motorcycle racer Antony Hart as he wrapped up his second championship title of the season.
Hart with his fianc?e Laura last year receiving the Classic Racer of the Year award EMN-170919-170423002Hart with his fianc?e Laura last year receiving the Classic Racer of the Year award EMN-170919-170423002
Hart with his fianc?e Laura last year receiving the Classic Racer of the Year award EMN-170919-170423002

Having married his fiancée Laura in Devon on the Monday, the Melton rider headed to a windswept Anglesey for the penultimate roudn and nine races.

Practice started badly when Hart came off the bike on he first lap when the steering locked, but the low speed crash did very little damage to bike and rider so they were back on the grid for race one.

As championship leader, Hart followed his main contender around to maintain his overall advantage with a steady ride in appalling conditions and a fourth-place finish.

A major engine blow-up from a rival caused a huge oil slick which, allied with damage to the track, ended the day’s racing.

Organisers decided to bring over just one race from each class from the previous day and hold one longer race in each to complete the schedule.

This fell very favourably for Hart who just had to finish in the points to retain his Yamaha TZ GP 350 title with a round to spare.

The atrocious weather meant this was no simple task, with very high winds and intermittent driving rain, but Hart settled for another fourth place which put him 57 points clear and guaranteed the ?? title.

Switching to the Len Manchester Yamaha, he was able to relax and ride hard, finishing second in class in the first race and first in class in the longer race, results which put him clear in second place in the championship.

It was all to play for in the final round of the ACU National Championship, with Hart leading the championship by just five points and needing a win or a non-finish from his main rival.

But with a very determined ride from all three main contenders, the Leicestershire rider had to be happy with third place, with only five of the 19 riders able to negotiate the extreme conditions and finish.

The result left him runner-up in the championship, but a great result against very good opposition.

With the Honda RS 125 Championship already secured, Hart settled for second place on the David King Honda 125, just half-a-second behind the winner. The weekend culminated with the longer 125 race, but after a great start, Hart lost the front end while leading the field into the tricky downhill corkscrew section and crashed out.

Hart completes his season with a trip to Brands Hatch.