Harris claims CLRC crown!
CHRIS ‘Bomber’ Harris secured his maiden Championship League Riders Championship (CLRC) at Scunthorpe yesterday. Both Bears battled hard with Charles Wright finishing 4th in the final whilst Danny King lost out on countback to Ben Barker for a semi-final place.
The final saw Wright struggle to settle on the start line, and when the tapes rose, the skipper was last out of the gate and could not find a way into the race. Harris passed his Glasgow teammate Kyle Howarth (who finished 2nd to secure a Glasgow 1-2) on the opening lap for the win, whilst the returning Steve Worrall rode impressively throughout the day to finish 3rd.
After Ben Barker took an impressive win in heat one, Redcar’s Danny King started his bid for glory with a 3rd place in heat two as Scunthorpe’s own Steve Worrall took the win from Sam Masters in 2nd.
Heat three saw Poole’s Richard Lawson take the chequered flag with heat four seeing Wright begin his title charge. What followed was a superb race as Workington’s Antti Vuolas tussled with Wright for the lead throughout the race until Harris produced a mesmerising double pass on the run to the line to start with a win.
After Drew Kemp and Chris Harris won heats five and six respectively, both Bears were back out on track in heat seven. The seventh race saw King take a tapes to flag win, and with Wright in 2nd, the large travelling contingent had plenty to cheer.
Heats eight and nine saw Worrall continue his unbeaten start with a win whilst Howarth took his first chequered flag in his 2nd outing. Heat 10 saw Wright take his 3rd ride, but when the skipper struggled from the gate, things did not look rosy for the skipper. However, Wright showed superb speed to pass Simon Lambert and Jake Allen respectively for another 2nd place to take his tally to five points from three rides.
After Worrall claimed another win in heat 11, King was out in back to back races, with very different fortunes! The 2016 British Champion ran a last in heat 12 but gave himself hope with a scintillating heat 13 win over Harris who benefitted from Kemp retiring whilst the Bandit was 2nd.
Worrall secured his place in the final with a 4th successive win in heat 14 whilst Justin Sedgmen took his total to five points with a heat 15 success. Wright boosted his qualification hopes with a brilliant heat 16 win as he cutback under Howarth on bend two of the final lap for 1st, which took the captain’s total to eight points from four rides.
Wright continued his impressive form as he performed a vintage pass to lower Worrall’s colours which secured a minimum semi-final spot. Heat 18 saw King’s hopes take a major blow with the Brit finishing 3rd to end on eight points, leaving him waiting to see if he had qualified.
Heat 19 saw Howarth secure a semi-final spot with a superb win over Vuolas but heat 20 saw heartache for King as Barker won to qualify for the semi-final on countback, but with Harris 4th, Wright had qualified in the top two for the final.
The last chance semi-final saw Howarth win, whilst Harris eventually got the better of Lawson for 2nd to ensure Glasgow would have a representative in the final.
The final saw Wright struggle to settle at the tapes, and when the tapes rose, Wright could not make an impact on the top three. Meanwhile, in the battle for the chequered flag, Harris passed Howarth and held on impressively for the title, to the delight of the travelling Glasgow fans.
Line Up
1. Drew Kemp (Berwick) = 6
2. Jake Allen (Scunthorpe) = 6
3. Justin Sedgmen (Edinburgh) = 7
4. Ben Barker (Plymouth) = 8
5. Sam Masters (Oxford) = 8
6. Kyle Howarth (Glasgow) = 10 (Second)
7. Danny King (Redcar) = 8
8. Steve Worrall (Scunthorpe) = 14 (Third)
9. Kye Thomson (Edinburgh) = 0
10. Richard Lawson (Poole) = 9
11. Dan Thompson (Glasgow) = 5
12. Simon Lambert (Scunthorpe) = 5
13. Antti Vuolas (Workington) = 8
14. Chris Harris (Glasgow) – 3, 3, 1, 2, 0 = 9 (Winner)
15. Charles Wright (Redcar) = 11
16. Tate Zischke (Workington) = 5
17. Luke Harrison (Scunthorpe) = 1