Tim Hastings Racing #50

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Catalan Championships - 2 Nov 2008

Fresh from a successful British Championship and a visit to Northern Ireland for the Sunflower Races, Tim Hastings continued his eventful season by venturing south into the Catalan Championship and his first visit to Valencia since a brief test in 2006.

A weekend which was greatly affected by the variable weather began in the wet on Friday - with Tim posting a best lap of 2.04.4 - a time which would have put him 14th in wet FP1 for the previous weekend's MotoGP 125's. A drying track in the afternoon saw lap times tumble, and Tim finished the day with a much improved fastest lap of 1.49.1.

A dry Saturday quickly saw Tim on the pace and he took the KRP Honda up to P12 during the 1st qualifying session, with a time of 1.46.6. Unfortunately, in the second qualifying session Tim suffered an early crash and as a result missed valuable time getting his bike back to the pits for repairs. He managed to get back out on track for the remainder of the session but, unable to improve on his Q1 time, he slipped down the order and would start Sunday's race from 20th on the grid.

Sunday dawned dry but extremely windy and this greatly affected the 125 riders. At the lights, Tim got off to one of his customary lightning quick getaways, and he headed into turn one with the leaders well in his sights, however, a multi-rider crash brought out the red flags and the race had to be restarted after a delay of around 30 minutes.

At the restart, Tim was again away well, but the strong winds - and the cement dust laid from the earlier incident - left him momentarily unsighted, and he missed his brake marker, causing him to run straight on at the end of the start/finish straight. He managed to keep upright though, and stopped the KRP Honda just before the barriers. The marshals quickly helped him re-start the bike and, having made his way out of the gravel trap and back onto the tarmac, Tim rejoined the race in 37th and last place. He then put in a typically spirited fight back which saw him catch and pass several riders before eventually taking the chequered flag in 21st.

Although not the kind of start to Tim's Spanish campaign that he would have wanted, the track knowledge gained in the Catalan Championship will hopefully prove valuable when Tim once again takes to the same track this coming weekend (7th, 8th & 9th November) for the penultimate round of the Spanish CEV Championship.

Read the race reports from previous rounds.