Classic Motorcycle Festival Brings Competition from Europe for Harley Round 5 of the Championship was the Donington Park Classic Festival which always had a large turnout of riders, bikes, and spectators.

This year the event was supported by Bennett’s Bike Insurance and had an abundance of Yamaha parade bikes. Going into the round Harley was looking forward to getting back to Donington Park after not racing at the circuit since 2019.

Harley said: "We were going into the weekend needing to pick up solid finishes as we are into the 2nd half of the season.

"Every race weekend this year seems to supply some interesting weather conditions and Donington was no exception. We were never sure across the whole weekend what the weather was going to do.

"Qualifying on the Saturday Morning was dry but as Harley was still getting to grips with the circuit.

"Starting on the front 3 rows for each race have a strong basis to progress on throughout the weekend.

Harley started the weekend with the 350GP Race aboard the Craven TZ. Unfortunately, this race was straight after the ACU Qualifying session which resulted in both Harley and His Teammate missing the grid after refuelling so had to start from pit lane.

Harley secured 8th place with some points on the board.

Harley followed up with a 4th place and two 3rd positions in the remainder of the club races aboard the Craven TZ, he couldn’t run the pace of the 2 leaders but got quicker all weekend.

Harley felt he made progression aboard the bike throughout the weekend but was disappointed losing points against his rivals in the championship challenge.

The next races over the weekend were the 350 Classic races where Harley was aboard the Craven Honda.

Wanting to collect maximum points for his championship challenge in this class Harley started the weekend with an outright victory as completion fell is the damping conditions on the Saturday Afternoon.

Harley had strong completion in this class all weekend from some Spanish riders who had come over to this international round to compete.

Harley had some good battles with them, managing to beat them in all races but one.

Still taking the class win in each outing on the Craven Honda meant Harley had a clean sweep of 100 points to add to his 350 Twins Championship total leaving Donington Park.

Harley was trying and testing new setups and tyres with the Craven Manx Norton, he felt the bike had so much potential and could have finished on the podium but was down on ultimate top speed against his competitor’s machines.

This meant Harley could only secure three 5th place finishes and unfortunately had a crash on someone else’s oil Sunday morning which gave the Craven Classic Racing Team some Repair work to get the bike ready for the remainder of the weekend’s races.

The ACU races of the weekend were held over 10 laps and the Post Classic ACU race was also the Wheatcroft Trophy race in memory of Tom Wheatcroft who revived the circuit to what it is today.

This had a grid walk prior to the race and was one of the biggest all season, unfortunately Harley’s lack of experience of the Craven TZ and speed against the other machines meant he was off the podium in 4th position throughout this race but can take away that he was getting quicker as the weekend progressed.

In the ACU Classic Race Harleys completion was from the European riders who had come over to compete, Harley started the race strong and got out front in the early laps where he could control his gap and after 10 long laps take the overall 350cc Classic ACU victory.

This was a really good way to round off the weekend which Harley felt his results were divided “I am really pleased to come away from the weekend with an abundance of points in the 350 twins’ class and I felt really competitive against the competition with even more pace to come from myself and the Craven Honda.

"The Craven Manx Norton made some really good progress this weekend in terms of setup, unfortunately we were hampered by top speed, but this will be resolved for the following rounds where we can hopefully challenge for the higher positions.

"Unfortunately lack of track time on the Craven TZ or just overall lack of pace meant I was unable to challenge for race wins in the Post Classic 350GP races.

"This was frustrating but something I have to accept as a racer even as I always wants to be fight for victory. We can come back to Donington Park next year with more experience and hopefully use that to improve lap times and overall pace.

"But for now, I look towards the next round of the CRMC Championship at Snetterton in Norfolk, the first weekend in September.”