Tim Hastings Racing #50

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Round 12 - Brands Hatch Indy (10/11/12 October 2008)

A brave charge for the 125GP Championship title ended in final day disappointment for KRP's Tim Hastings when he crashed out of the lead during the season's deciding race at Brands Hatch.

After a season that has been full of positives for the Falkirk rider, Tim - who only turned 16 the day before Brands - went into this meeting with nothing to lose. Having already secured the ACU Academy Cup - and knowing that he couldn't lose the Championship runner up spot - he was totally focussed on this final chance to lift the overall title.

In good weather, Friday's first free practice session started off well with Tim running in the top three, but after only eight minutes he retired with an electrical fault and, as a result, missed out on valuable track time. The team soon traced the fault and made the required repairs before the afternoon when Tim signalled his intentions with the second fastest session time and a new personal best lap of 49.816s.

Saturday qualifying got underway in very good weather conditions, but another technical fault with the gearbox brought a premature end to Tim's session after just five laps. This placed Tim in provisional 22nd and piled on the pressure with only the second qualifying session left to improve his grid placing.

Tim though went into the second session fully confident in his own ability and undeterred by the amount of track time he'd already lost. He quickly rose up the timesheets and went P1 after just a few laps. From there he continued to increase the pace, consistently delivering 49 second laps. The session ended with him in pole position with a time of 49.365s (another personal best) - giving him the best possible opportunity for the race ahead. Tim then continued his impressive form during Sunday morning's warm up - again lapping comfortably in 49 seconds and ending the session in P1.

To win the championship, Tim knew that he had to finish nine points ahead of series leader, Matthew Hoyle. Tim and team mate James Lodge were consistently faster than Matty all weekend and if they could finish 1st and 2nd, then that would be enough to win the championship. After a reasonable start, Tim was fourth into turn one before passing Deane Brown to complete lap one in P3. Going into Druids at the start of the second lap, Tim made an audacious move to pass both Matty and Connor Behan, and take the lead of the race.

From then on Tim set fastest lap after fastest lap in his quest to break the chasing pack and win the race. However, after setting what proved to be the fastest lap of the race on lap five, and increasing his lead to over a second, Tim pushed a little too hard going into Paddock Hill and ran slightly wide. Loosing traction at the rear wheel, Tim highsided spectacularly into the gravel trap at the bottom of the hill, and his race was over.

Although it was a disappointing end to the season, there have been far too many positives during 2008 for Tim and the team to dwell on what might have been at Brands Hatch. Matty Hoyle rode well all season and thoroughly deserves to be British 125GP Champion, and Team Twister wishes him the very best for whatever direction he takes in 2009.

At the end of a long and exhilarating BSB campaign, Tim would like to thank Mark Keen and all at KRP for providing him with a superb bike that has allowed him to do so well this year. Team Twister would also like to extend a big thank you for the support of all Tim's sponsors (Green Machines, Pro-Scot, Digby Brown, Nevis Marketing, Phoenix Honda, Arkose Design and NGK) and all friends and fans that have made this such a memorable season.

Read the race reports from previous rounds.