Tim Hastings Racing #50

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KDMC Scottish Championship - Knockhill (2/3 June)

After a hectic start to the 2007 season, a four week break in the BSB timetable gave Team Twister a chance to recharge the batteries, and Tim the opportunity to take to the track at his home circuit - Knockhill - for rounds 7 & 8 of the KDMC Scottish Championship.

Although there were none of the pressures normally associated with a BSB race weekend, Tim was still keen to show team owner Pete Banks what he could do with the Applied Sweepers Honda at the tight Fife circuit - a track he knows well from his days on a 125 Aprilia.

As frequently happens in the Scottish events, qualifying and racing were complicated by the variety of machines involved - GP125, F400, F125, classic & forgotten era bikes were all on track at the same time, making it difficult to get in an uninterrupted lap. Tim though managed to get one clear lap in qualifying and put in a best time of 56.3 seconds - a new personal best - to take pole by 2.033 seconds.

Despite a poor race one start, Tim led into Taylor's hairpin on lap one and never looked back. He was however under instruction from Pete not to try and win the race by the maximum margin, but rather to build a 3 second lead and then "back off" and maintain the gap. Despite the temptation to run away from the field, Tim controlled the race from the front and went on to take the chequered flag by 3.1 seconds. It proved to be a fortunate win, as on the last lap the cylinder head on Tim's bike cracked, causing the bike to overheat and seize on the slowing down lap.

Pete managed to repair the bike in double quick time and got Tim out on track for the second race. Another average start meant that Tim was 4th into turn one and this time the rest of the field made much more of a fight of things as they held onto Tim for the first three laps with some pretty wild passes into the hairpin. However, Tim's recent experience of battling at close quarters in BSB meant he was unfazed by the goings on around him and duly got his head down to take the lead by lap four. Tim and Niall Waddel then broke away and the two of them pulled well clear to lead by some 12 seconds. Although Niall was able to run with Tim, he never looked like he was going to trouble him for the win, and Tim once again took the victory - this time by about half a second.

With pole position, a new fastest lap and two wins, this was pretty much a perfect weekend for Tim in what is still a learning period on the GP bike. More importantly though, it also provided Tim and Pete with valuable set up information for the BSB race to come, and the team can now look forward to Round 7 on the 1st of July with real confidence.

Read the race reports from previous rounds.