INGLETON racer Harley Rushton has become the youngest rider to win the Classic Racing Motorcycle Club’s 350cc Championships three times.

The 22-year-old secured his latest title in a weather-hit round on the coastal circuit of Anglesey in North Wales.

Heavy rain and strong winds combined with an oil spill to make the course unfit for racing on the Saturday.

It meant that there were two races for each bike on the Sunday and the races in the morning were still run in wet conditions after overnight rain.

Rushton managed to get a safe sixth place on the 500 Craven Manx followed by a second place aboard the 350 Craven Honda, after just getting piped to the finish line in the five-lap sprint races.

The afternoon brought dry weather even though the winds were high. The conditions were altering so quickly that the track only just dried up before the 500 race, but the Craven Classic Racing bikes still had wet tyres fitted.

These were chewed up throughout the long 12-lap races, but Harley still brought the bike home in a credible fourth place ¬ just one behind his Team Mate Mike Cooper.

The final event of the weekend was the 350cc race. Rushton was determined to secure his first win of the weekend.

After a strong start and a couple of overtakes on the opening lap, Rushton had the lead by the end of lap one, pulling a ten-second advantage over second-placed Richard Molnar.

Rushton’s pace at the end of the race was good enough for him to set his fastest time on the final lap which was only 0.2 seconds slower than the track record for a 350 twin cylinder bike.

The win confirmed that the 350 twins championship for 2017 was Rushton’s, who is now so far ahead in the points tally that he is unbeatable with one round remaining.

Rushton said: “The weather this weekend was horrible, you never knew what it was going to do. The cancelled racing on Saturday was the safest option because of how treacherous and slippery the surface of the track was.

“I took it cautiously in the wet conditions on Sunday morning which allowed me to have good bikes to push in the dry races later in the day.

“A wrong tyre choice on the 500 hampered my performance but it was still useful testing and I got a good result.

“Finally, a win aboard the 350 Craven Honda sealed the championship and asserted our performance dominance this season.

“The 12 laps were long and I was just waiting for the last lap flag. The bike felt really strong in the race just as it has been all year.”