YATE youngster Luke Hedger has returned to the podium at the latest round of the Sunoco British 125GP Championship held at Croft last weekend.

The 15-year-old had crashed out of the lead at the previous meeting having won the season opener at Brands Hatch, but at Croft he proved that he’s a quick learner by taking a well deserved third place having started once again from the front row of the grid.

The result sees Hedger move up into second position in both the main championship and the ACU Academy Cup standings.

Hedger spent the first practice session running in a new engine in damp conditions, but soon re-established himself towards the top of the timings during the dry afternoon practice.

Qualifying once again went very well for the youngster, provisionally putting the Banks Racing Honda RS125 in third place on the front row before being edged down to fourth place on the grid during final qualification.

It was only the second visit to the North Yorkshire circuit for Hedger, so to take his third consecutive front row start in the series was some achievement. As the race got underway, Hedger made a decent start and held on to his fourth position at the end of lap one.

After initially battling with Lee Jackson in the early stages, he pulled clear and set his sights on the two riders ahead, Rob Guiver and Kyle Ryde.

Over the coming laps he gained time on the leading pair before tyre wear kicked in towards the end of the race.

With a few spots of rain appearing on his visor during the last two laps he decided to settle for third place.

Hedger said: “The weekend started off well with the two free practice sessions and then I qualified in fourth position on the grid, which was really good as it’s my third consecutive front row start.”

“The start of the race went ok, by half distance I had caught the leaders and stayed with them until I began to lose grip through tyre wear.

“At that point I decided to bring the bike home in third place for another podium and some good points.”