Tim Hastings Racing #50

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Round 2 - Thruxton (13/14/15 April)

Tim Hastings continued his remarkable start to the 2007 season at a sunny Thruxton where he secured a sensational 4th place in the second round of the 125GP Championship Cup. His overall race placing of 15th also brought him his first ever point in the 125GP Championship in only his second race at this level.

Although this was Tim's first visit to Thruxton, he was keen to build on the progress made during the first round at Brands Hatch only a few days earlier. The 14-year old from Falkirk quickly adapted to the fast and bumpy 2.36 mile Hampshire circuit and finished Friday's two free practice sessions in a comfortable 21st place.

Saturday qualifying saw Tim continue to improve his lap times on the Pete Banks Racing Honda. Moving from 19th place and a fastest morning lap of 1.25.147, he finished the afternoon session with a best time of 1.24.574 - good enough for overall 16th place and an impressive fourth row spot on the provisional grid. Perhaps of more significance was the fact that Tim was just 2.8 seconds off pole - an indication of how well he is gelling together with his new team.

Race day was again warm and dry, but incidents and injuries during the brief morning warm up session mean that a couple of fellow riders were unable to make the race, so Tim lined up the Applied Sweepers sponsored "Green Machine" in 14th position on a revised grid.

As the lights went out Tim made a good start and quickly settled into 13th position in the middle of a six rider battle, before gaining ground and running as high as 12th on lap seven. The emergence of the safety car midway through the race was another first for Tim - but he was passed by two riders while the safety flags were out and annoyingly found himself back in 14th when racing resumed.

With the race laps rapidly counting down, Tim battled hard for the final championship point with the more experienced Stuart Findlay. With only two laps remaining he put in his fastest lap of the race - an impressive 1.24.323 - and just held position to take 15th place at the flag.

Tim's joy at securing his first ever Championship point was tempered by his frustration at missing out on a Cup podium by only a fraction of a second, but his superb 4th place finish gave him 13 points and moved him up to fifth position in the Cup standings. You can read Tim's own account of the Thruxton weekend here.

While still on the massive learning curve of getting used to a new bike, a new team and new circuits, Tim has exceeded all possible expectations over the first two races. His own desire to succeed - along with Pete Banks' patience, experience and commitment - is proving to be a successful combination, and Team Manager Pete was delighted with their weekend. "Tim's progress both on and off the track took a huge step forward at Thruxton", he said.

After two highly satisfying outcomes from the opening rounds of their 2007 campaign, Team Twister now looks forward to Round 3 at Silverstone on the 27th-29th of April.

Read the race reports from previous rounds.