A strong and skilful race performance saw KRP’s Tim Hastings overcome gearbox problems to secure his third Championship podium at the Mallory Park round of this years Relentless 125GP British Championship.
The 16 year old Falkirk rider started the weekend well with Tim coming within a fraction of a second of his personal best times at Mallory as he took 4th and 6th places in Friday’s two free practice sessions. Despite poor forecasts, the track kept dry for Saturday qualifying and Tim once again took 4th place in Q1 - this time with a new personal best lap of 1.00.785s. Despite not being able to match this in the afternoon’s 2nd qualifying session, this time was good enough to give Tim 5th in combined qualifying and secure him a place at the front of the second row for Sunday’s race.
After his troubles on the start line at Knockhill, Tim was anxious to get his Mallory start right. At the lights he nailed a perfect getaway and came through the front row to lead on the first lap of the tight 1.41 mile circuit.
Tim was soon under pressure from the chasing pack and it quickly became obvious that he no longer had second gear. Losing drive out of Mallory’s tight corners and having to work extra hard to keep pace with those around him, Tim slowly began to slip back down the order, but those in front of him also had their problems.
As the race moved into its final laps, Connor Behan and Tim’s KRP team mates Paul Jordan and Tom Hayward all dropped out of contention in quick succession, leaving Tim to fend off a late attack from Robbie Stewart before crossing the line in a superb third place.
Tim now moves back up to 4th place in the overall Championship standings, and another visit to the top step of the Cup podium extended Tim’s lead in the ACU Academy Cup to an impressive 51 points.
With little time to rest, Team Twister now looks forward to what will be the biggest race of Tim’s career so far - a wildcard entry to the British 125 Grand Prix at Donington Park this weekend where he will be joined by KRP team mates James Lodge, Martin Glossop and Paul Jordan.
Team Twister would like to thank Shark, TCX, Knox, NGK, Evadne and Gibsons Builders for all their continued support, along with Mark Keen and the KRP team for providing an excellent bike throughout the weekend. Finally a big thank you to all those who continue to support Tim through the “Twister…Powered by Fans†campaign.
Warren Scott: 23 July 2009
Congratulations once again Tim
.Best of luck at the British GP this weekend , give all those foreigners something to think about , but most of all enjoy it!!!!!
I am sure that it will be the first of many
and his one word answers to questions, but powered by the fans got a mention.