Tim Hastings Racing #50

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Round 8 - Knockhill (8/9/10 August)

Falkirk's Tim Hastings maintained his superb recent form as took his third consecutive 125 GP Championship podium at his home circuit of Knockhill, and in doing so also extended his lead in the Cup competition.

The weekend started for Tim on Wednesday as he took part in the "Superbikes in the Square" publicity event. Despite the appalling weather conditions, thousands of fans turned out to see the riders on the streets of Glasgow where - on this one occasion - they were encouraged to entertain with wheelies and burnouts.

The Knockhill meeting didn't get off to the best of starts as Tim's bike developed a minor technical problem which left him stranded out on circuit and meant he missed almost the entire first free practise session. The team quickly rectified the problem before the next session in which Tim demonstrated his dogged determination to be the best, and topped the time sheets with a remarkable time of 54.176 secs - which proved to be the fastest time of the entire weekend.

On Saturday the weather had taken a turn for the worse and qualifying took place in very wet conditions. In the first qualifying session the plan was for Tim to ensure he qualified well within his limits before pushing for a position on the front row in the final five minutes of the session. However, while he was on a personal best lap in the final minutes of qualifying, the session was brought to a premature halt as the red flags came out and put paid to any hopes of improving on a provisional 10th place.

Despite a still wet second qualifying session, Tim set about improving his times and his starting position with some very skilful wet weather riding. As the lap times started to tumble, Tim responded well to go into pole position with only two minutes remaining. He then noticed his engine temperature had dropped significantly and rather than risking any possible damage, he retired from the session. He then frustratingly had to watch as he slipped down the leader board and ended the session on the second row in 8th place.

The weather remained changeable throughout race day, but it was dry when it came to the 125's start late in the afternoon. Tim got away well and completed lap one in 5th place but the race was red flagged at the start of lap two after an accident involving veteran rider Mick Wilcox and Lee Costello. The team wishes both riders a speedy recovery.

The restarted race was scheduled for 15 laps and at the re-start Tim got another of his customary flyers - completing the opening lap in 3rd. By lap four Tim moved into 2nd position and set about closing the gap on race leader, Matt Hoyle. The race then developed into a three way battle between Matt, Tim and his KRP team mate Martin Glossop. The trio were seldom separated by more than half a second as the laps counted down, but it was in the closing stages, when they started encountering backmarkers, that the result was decided. On the penultimate lap, Tim was momentarily baulked and lost time to the leading two. He couldn't close the resulting gap and finished the race in 3rd position, taking his 7th consecutive Cup podium in the process.

The team now looks forward to the next round at Cadwell Park where Tim will be defending a 16 point lead in the Cup while at the same time hoping to close a similar gap for the lead in the main Championship.

A special thanks to Mark Keen for his support at the event in George Square as well as all the hard work and effort that went into making the weekend a very memorable one. Thanks also to our main sponsors: Green Machines, Digby Brown Solicitors, Pro-Scott, Phoenix Honda, Nevis Marketing & Arkose Design.

Read the race reports from previous rounds.