Storms and spills make for weekend to forget

The Hart team left Melton for a nine-race programme in round four of the CRMC Championships at the picturesque Anglesey circuit in North Wales.

After setting up camp in strong sunshine on Friday afternoon, the next day brought torrential rain and 40mph winds which halted the meeting.

With the wind deemed too dangerous to race, Saturday was abandoned, including two races on each bike for Hart, plus qualifying for the ACU race.

Two attempts were made to start the first race of Sunday, but after two red flag incidents on the first lap, it, too, was abandoned.

Race two remained quite windy, but with a dry track, and after the customary frantic first two laps, a crash, caused by a faulty front tyre, put Hart out of a secure third place.

With two new tyres fitted and a repaired bike, it was on to the ACU race where the Melton rider was given a front row start.

The race produced a terrific scrap for second, third and fourth places with Hart coming home in third to keep his championship hopes alive.

With confidence restored after the morning crash, race three of the club championship started at a terrific pace with three riders fighting for the lead.

But on lap two with Hart leading the way, another rider ran into him, bringing the top three down and the race was stopped.

Luckily, the Leicestershire racer walked away unhurt, but with the bike quite badly damaged that was the end of the day for Hart and another no-score in the race re-run.

The usually trusty Len Manchester Yamaha was also taken along to the meet, but with the bike refusing to run well, for no obvious reason, the Melton team packed up and headed for home to regroup for another day.