Tim Hastings Racing #50

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Round 7 - Knockhill (29/30 June 1 July)

On a weekend of wildly varying weather conditions, a sensational performance at his local circuit gave 14 year-old Tim Hastings a magnificent 11th place finish - and his second consecutive 4th place Cup result - at Round 7 of the British 125GP Championship.

While much of the season so far has been about learning new circuits, Tim had ridden the Pete Banks Racing Honda at Knockhill in the Scottish Championship as recently as early June, so was quickly up to the pace of the regular front runners. Despite ominous weather forecasts, Friday's two free practice session were held on a totally dry track, and Tim delivered a series of consistent laps to finish 12th in both morning and afternoon outings.

Saturday morning's first qualifying brought a new personal fastest lap (55.6 secs) and yet another 12th place on the timesheets, but the real drama unfolded as the clouds rolled in and the rain came down during the afternoon qualifying session.

With a home track advantage and his confidence high after so many wet weather laps at the recent Mondello round, Tim found himself running in the top five around the undulating Fife circuit, but the weekend almost came to a disastrous end with only a few minutes of the session left. Approaching Knockhill's hairpin at over 100mph, the Honda's front brake calliper mount broke - which left Tim with no brakes and precious little time to react. Showing remarkable composure, Tim laid the bike down and was fortunate to walk away unscathed from what could have been a massive crash.

The minimal damage to the bike was quickly repaired, and a best ever 12th place on the grid awaited Tim for race day.

Although Sunday's programme was frequently interrupted by torrential downpours, the 125s came out to a virtually dry track late in the afternoon and, as so often this season, their race proved to be one of the day’s best.

Perhaps over-desperate for a good home performance, Tim's normally reliable start for once let him down, and he dropped down to 16th on the first lap, but it wasn't long before he was making up places with some dramatic late braking into the hairpin.

For the first time in the season Tim found himself rubbing shoulders (quite literally) with some of the top riders in the series, including Ashley Beech, Jenny Tinmouth, Alec Wright and Mondello race winner Nikki Coates, and he displayed great maturity as they swapped places for virtually the whole race.

While fellow Scot Kev Coghlan took the race win with a spectacular move on the final corner of the last lap, Tim continued to fight off the attentions of some vastly more experienced riders, and crossed the line in a richly deserved 11th overall.

His 4th in the 125 Cup also netted him 13 more points and moved a delighted Tim up to joint fourth in the table - only a single point away from a top three place. Knockhill also proved that Tim can run with - and beat - some of the best riders in the series, and he now looks forward to the season's second visit to Oulton Park with the dream of a top 10 finish much closer to reality.

Team Twister would like to thank all sponsors, friends and fans who came to Knockhill and who continue to support Tim in his debut season. We would also like to extend thanks to the marshals who assisted Tim after his Saturday crash, and especially to Mr Patrickson and local race star Bob Grant for their help in repairing Tim's damaged bike.

Read the race reports from previous rounds.