Tim Hastings Racing #50

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Oulton Park 1

On Saturday morning in FP1 I just went out to see how my wrist felt, (after my crash at Brands), and it felt fine. I decided to push slightly harder I could feel the track "grip" was very low, so I choose not to push too hard and kept the bike upright. I was also running in new crank with my bike jetted rich so to finish 5th was good. In FP2 the track "grip" was much better and I was able to push harder. I improved on my lap times and finished the session in 4th spot, still running rich, to look after the new crank, so again, I was happy to still be up order.

In Sunday qualifying my bike was set up for maximum performance and felt much faster right away. Conditions were good and track temperature was good too. I was building steadily and making sure of a few "banker" laps and once I had built enough speed to qualify inside the top ten, I started to push for a hot lap. I was lucky with my hot lap as I had clear track for the entire lap and managed to go into P1 with about 5 minutes remaining. I was able to hold onto provisional pole until the end of the session.

In Q2, I managed to retain the top spot until the last 5minutes. I made a pit stop to correct the jetting but after rejoining the circuit, I noticed a problem with my gear select lever and had to pit again. Now I only had time for a couple of laps and on my final hot lap, I caught a slower rider in the 1st sector but carried on pushing and went fastest in sectors 2 & 3 and managed to improve my own lap time, but had to settle for P2 on the grid. That was ok, as I knew I had a good pace for the race.

Monday morning's warm up session, was wet. The tyres and set up felt good, so I wasn't worried about what the weather was going to do. When it was time for our race the weather was still mixed. I completed my sighting lap on full wets and hurried back to my grid slot to ask the team for slicks as the track was drying so fast, wets were going to be the wrong choice. Our race had been called a "dry" race, so if it did rain after the start, the race would be stopped to allow us to change to wets. As soon as I to the grid my team changed my tyres and I was ready to race.

I got the worst start to a race that I had ever had, I was trying a new technique that had worked well in practise, but I got it horribly wrong in the race. I was so far back I never knew where I was. I was determined to get some points after my DNF at Brands, so I just got my head down and tried to do the pace I knew I could. I had a few scary moments while I was coming through the field, with riders braking well before I am used to and at one point I actually collided with someone. It was a hard enough impact for me to check and make sure my handlebar was still in the right place and that my clutch lever wasn't broke. I think everyone must have been taking things very easy because of the damp conditions because after just a few laps, I had caught up some of the faster riders and my pit board was saying I was 5th. I tried to pass James Lodge for 4th but he was very strong on the brakes and I ended up out braking myself and had to run on at the chicane. After I rejoined the track, I was back down to 7th spot. By this time the other guys had woken up and were all lapping at more or less the same speed. This made it harder to catch them but I carried on and on the last lap I was back with the group who were racing for the podium and I was planning to try a pass at Lodge Corner, but we caught a lapped rider going into Hizzy's chicane. Every one except me got through and I ended up on the grass trying to get past the guy.

I am still happy I was able to finish 6th and put some points on the board and I was very happy to have come 1st in the ACU Academy Cup, especially after my bad start. Next up is Donington and I hope to do better there.

Timmy #50

Brands Hatch Indy

We only got to Brands Hatch early on Friday morning as we drove down during the night after dad had finished work on Thursday. Dad moaned about the long 8 hour drive but I don't know what he is talking about, it seemed like 5mins to me, I slept all the way there! Once we arrived and got parked up, we unpacked the van and got everything set up. I headed to the paddock to say hello and check out my bike. I couldn't wait to go out and get racing.

In FP1 my transponder wasn't working properly, I had no sector times but it did record 12 of my 22 laps and placed me 2nd. That was ok as the times were quite quick right away. I chose to sit out FP2 as it was wet and weather forecast was for dry qualifying and race, so I didn't want to risk crashing so early on in the weekend.

FP3 on Saturday morning was wet to start with, and the team and I chose to go out and get a feel for the wet in case the forecast changed and we got a wet qualifying. So I went out and took my time. I was soon 7 seconds off the fastest time and realised that grip levels were pretty good and started to up my pace. I was surprised to see "P1" on my pit board after just a few laps, but it wasn't to last because with just a few minutes of the session remaining, my visor blew off! It was my own fault, I had changed from a dark visor to a clear visor because of the conditions but was in such a hurry when I changed it, that I forgot to lock it in place, doh! I just stayed out anyway and ended the session in P3, 0.078 slower than the fastest time. My face was freezing and my eyes were watering a lot. It was dry again for FP4 and all the times were quicker. The track still didn't have a lot of grip because of the temperature and all the rain. I didn't have the same pace as I had at the end of 2008 but we were a lot closer as I ended the session 2nd with a time of 50.2. Also on Saturday we had Q1 so it was a busy day! It had rained a bit before qualifying, so again there was very little grip but I managed a 3rd place for the provisional grid with a time 50.2.

Sunday was wet in the morning due to the fog, and the start of the track use was delayed until the fog lifted. When it was finally time for Q2, it was dry, so I was hoping for a good result and improve my grid position. I improved ever so slightly then came into pits and took longer than I thought we would to make some changes and I went out with only 4 minutes remaining and just couldn't get a clear run. I ended up 5th which wasn't what I wanted but we knew that come raceday we had good pace and were confident of a good result.

Monday morning warm up went ok and we used the session to run in some new parts. The bike felt good and I waited then for my race. I was getting nervous before the race as it was the first round and I really wanted a good start to the season.

I made a decent start and made a few places and finished the first lap in 3rd. I passed my team mate for 2nd and got my head down to try and catch the leader. My pace was good and I was soon in the 49's. On lap 12 my team mate came back past me and I was struggling to keep up with him which was a little strange. I was pushing hard to try not to let him get too far in front of me, and on lap 14, on my into Graham Hill bend, the bike seized. It was very sudden, locked the rear wheel and threw my over the high side, and that was my race finished. It wasn't the way I was planning on starting my year but its early days and it's better to get my bad luck out the way early I suppose. I was happy with my pace and showed that I could run up the front. Next up is Oulton Park, another of my favourite tracks.

Timmy #50

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