The race report will be out very soon, but to be fair to Tim, 13th was not an accurate indicator of his pace that w/end. Tim could well have been up for a 5th / 6th place and a lot closer to the leaders.
I made a horlicks of it by sending him to the grid with brand new disc's on the front wheel. That meant the disc's were bedding-in during the race. He said the brakes went through several stages of feeling, starting with a "spongey" feeling, (Never clever at 150mph into paddock), Then the brakes went through a phase of being extremely sharp without any progression on the lever, (this robbed him of confidence as he couldn't trail the brake in the corner, amongs other things), there was something else as well, but you get the picture....
That aside, the weekend was full of positives and Tim was well quick, new PB's with a best of 48.636 seconds... 0.29 seconds off pole and you are 14th, on the fourth row........How mad is that?? Top forty riders under 1 second of the pole time...None of the other classes were that close, including the superbikes....
The first round of the 2011 Metzeler 600 Superstock National Championship saw Falkirk’s Tim Hastings score valuable championship points as he brought his Team Green ZX6R home in 13th position in front of huge Easter Monday crowd at Brands Hatch.
At a track which has always been a favourite, Tim was very fast from the off, posting a best Free Practice time of 49.089 - 2/10th's faster than his best lap of 2010 - leaving him 14th overall. In Q1 he managed to better his time to 48.636 and secured overall 10th place - a mere 0.185 seconds off the provisional pole. Looking forward to Q2 - and knowing he was losing out in sector two - Tim was confident of improving his lap time further, but Q2 turned out to be a frustrating session marred by several incidents which caused yellow flags and put paid to fast laps. Tim pitted for a scheduled tyre change and returned to the track only to be greeted by yet more yellow flags, and then on his final flying lap he set his personal best in sector one, only to find a rider (who he just managed to avoid) "touring" on the race line. That ended his qualifying session and with it any chance Tim had of improving his grid slot. In a class where the top 43 riders were covered by only a single second, Tim qualified in P14, just 0.291 off pole position.
For the race, the team fitted a set of brand new wheels to Tim's Kawasaki Ninja ZX6R, but the use of new discs (which should have been bedded-in in an earlier session) proved to be a mistake which cost Tim in the race.
At the lights, Tim got off to a fantastic start - helped by a new clutch fitted by Gearlink Kawasaki - and he had made up three places by the end of lap one when it became apparent that something was wrong. Tim began to slip down the order and was at one stage in P17. His lap times were at least 1 second off what he had been doing in earlier sessions and it was all he could do to maintain his concentration and complete the race as best he could. In typical determined fashion, Tim clung on to complete the 24 lap race in 13th place and score valuable championship points. After the flag, Tim confirmed that the new front discs were the cause of his problems, going through various stages throughout the race and only coming good in the final laps. Whilst a simple error cost him a better result, Tim scored good points and, more importantly, is showing a new found confidence and plenty of pace. The team now heads for Oulton Park this coming weekend with the aim of securing a best ever result on the 600.
Team Twister wishes to thank the Gearlink Kawasaki team for help and advice throughout the weekend as well as all those supporters who took the time to come and visit. Thanks to Mark at Shark Helmets for an unrivalled service at each event, Rock Oil for their excellent product and service, and Knox for their excellent protective kit. Thank you to Kerry, Richard and Jack, (Gibsons), for taking the time to call by, along with Sharon and John, Ashley and Beth Enright, Matt and Terrence, the Allsopp family. Many thanks also to Mick Simms and Tina Mason who made their motorhome available to Tim for the weekend and shared all the weekend's trials and tribulations with the team.
Finally, thank you to Ross Burridge of Kawasaki UK for his continued support and faith in Tim. The Team Green initiative, brilliantly supported by Gearlink Kawasaki, has provided a platform from which the team is now able to compete at the very front.
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