Tim Hastings Racing #50

• HOME
• RESULTS
• RACE REPORTS
• GALLERY
• SPONSORS
• PROFILE
• CONTACT
• TIM'S REPORT

Cadwell Park – 25/26/27 August

August Bank Holiday weekend meant it was time for a visit to Cadwell Park for Round 11 of the British 125GP Championship where Tim Hastings put in yet another strong race performance to land a 9th place finish in the 125GP Cup.

Having travelled through the night and arrived on the Saturday morning only a few hours before the opening track session, the team managed to get Tim signed up and the bike prepared in time for first free practice. Despite being a great favourite with spectators, Cadwell Park is a highly complex circuit which combines sweeping corners with tight technical sections – as well as the famous Mountain! Tim had never been to Cadwell before on the GP bike and so both of Saturday's sessions were very much about learning the track and finding the best lines around the fast and narrow Lincolnshire circuit.

Sunday qualifying wasn't helped by an engine seizure at the end of the first outing, but the bike was fixed and ready by the afternoon session and Tim again put in a solid and mature performance. As so often this year his lap times improved by leaps and bounds over the first two days of the meeting, and his best time in Saturday's FP1 had been reduced by over six seconds by the time that Sunday's two qualifying sessions came to an end. Despite the improvement, Tim's qualifying time put him 33rd on the grid (the front of row 9), but while this wasn't the ideal starting slot, the entire weekend was a pretty steep learning curve and there were also six riders in the highly competitive field that failed to qualify at all.

Tim was happy with his Monday morning warm up, and with the 125s again filling the day's final race slot, he was able to enjoy much of the race day action.

Aware of the need for a quick getaway, Tim once again got a terrific start - making up five places in the first lap - but found it difficult to pass on the tight & twisty track. However he soon started to move up through the field and continued to make places steadily throughout the entire race. As the laps counted down, he also managed to head off a late charging Ben Padgett and crossed the line to claim a highly creditable 19th place overall. His 9th place finish in the Cup also netted him a further 7 points, and he now sits in 7th place in the competition for 14-16 year old riders.

Overall, this was another tough learning experience for Tim, but one that should stand him in good stead for the remaining races in 2007, and for his return visit to Cadwell in 2008.

Team Twister would like to thank Applied Sweepers, Digby Brown, Pro-Scot, Nevis Marketing and Arkose Design for their on-going support. Thanks also to everyone else who continues to lend support and encouragement, and special thanks to Pete Banks and Alan Green for their help and guidance in what is turning out to be a fantastic rookie season for Tim.

The team would also like to extend best wishes to series veteran Michael Wilcox for a rapid recovery from the injuries he sustained in a practice crash at Cadwell.

Read the race reports from previous rounds.