Tim Hastings Racing #50

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Round 8 - Oulton Park (13/14/15 July)

After seven consecutive points scoring finishes at the start of his debut season, Tim Hasting recorded his first DNF of the year when he crashed out of Round 8 of the British 125GP Championship at a rain-soaked Oulton Park.

Once again the weather played a major part throughout the weekend's activities, starting with both of Friday's free practice sessions which were held in persistent rain.

Following on from a successful wet race on his local track at Knockhill - and with increased experience of riding the GP bike in the wet - Tim was in confident mood for the second visit of the year to the undulating Cheshire circuit. FP1 went well and Tim soon established himself in the top ten, running as high up as 7th at one point before ending the session in 10th place. FP2 proved just how treacherous the greasy conditions were, as Tim crashed out on his first flying lap at Lodge corner. Having run wide on the exit of the corner, he ran onto the grass and promptly highsided - luckily without injury - after re-joining the circuit.

Saturday's qualifying sessions were held in the dry, and Q1 went well for Tim as he worked his way to a provisional 23rd on the grid. 2nd qualifying saw a much more determined effort from the young Falkirk rider and he equalled his personal best lap time from earlier in the year (1.51.4) to move up to an impressive 18th on the grid for Sunday's race.

With the rain returning for Sunday's disrupted programme, Tim again shone in the wet during the morning warm up and was happy to end the brief session in 10th place. Confident of a good result, Tim lined up on the grid for his race and got away with one of his trademark good starts, only to loose all the advantage gained as he took an extremely cautious approach into Old Hall bend. Having completed the first lap in 22nd place, Tim got his head down and started moving through the pack and by the start of lap seven he had moved up to 15th overall (and 4th place in the Cup). He then made it past James Ford and Jenny Tinmouth to take 13th spot and quickly closed down the #72 bike of Connor Behan ahead of him. However, with a first Cup podium almost within his grasp, Tim's race ended abruptly when he highsided out in spectacular fashion at Britten's chicane.

Fortunately, both Tim and his Banks Racing Honda escaped relatively unharmed and the 125 race was red flagged shortly after.

Although disappointed with his first DNF of the year, Tim once again proved that he is capable of running in the points within the main championship, and the team look forward to another strong performance in Round 9 at Mallory Park - a circuit which Tim enjoys and at which he won last years F125 Championship on board an Aprilia RS125.

Team Twister would like thank Nevis Marketing and Shark helmets for their unrivalled support throughout the season, and for their professional approach to rider support despite the difficult conditions of the last few rounds. Cheers Mark & Steve. Thanks also to Pete, Alan and Collin who have worked tirelessly to provide Tim with an immaculate and highly competitive machine throughout the year. Finally, grateful thanks for all the messages of concern and to those who came round to check on Tim's condition after his crash.

Read the race reports from previous rounds.