The second round of the Metzeler 600 Superstock Championship provided a second top 20 finish of the season for Tim Hastings as he delivered another strong performance in his debut year on the Team Green Kawasaki ZX6R.
Thruxton is one of Tim’s favourite tracks and throughout his 125 career he had always performed well at the fast and bumpy Hampshire circuit. On this occasion though, the weekend started with an unexpected mechanical fault which meant Tim had to miss the entire free practice session on Friday morning. However, with the help of his mechanic, John, as well as that of the Gearlink Kawasaki team, the bike was soon sorted and ready for the afternoon’s first qualifying.
Having missed the first session, the subsequent lack of track time became immediately apparent as Tim ended Q1 26th in his qualifying group and 45th on overall combined times. The strategy for the next day’s second qualifying session was to get Tim out on his Q1 tyres until he was up to speed and then bring him in for a new rear. Within the first 5 laps of the session, Tim was already 2/10th's quicker than his Q1 times but everybody else’s pace had also increased, meaning Tim was improving in time but not in position. With 12 minutes of the session remaining, the team brought Tim in for the tyre change.
Ben Wilson - Gearlink Kawasaki’s supersport rider - made a change to the tyre’s pressure and assured Tim that grip would be good, but only for a limited amount of laps. Gearlink Team owner Micheal then had a word with Tim and explained what sort of lap times he would need to do in order to safely go through to the main grid for Sunday's race. Tim then went back out on track and delivered the goods! On his first flying lap he went ½ a second quicker, on his second a further ½ second quicker, before shaving another ¼ second off on his third flying lap and in so doing elevating himself from P26 to P15 in his group - 27th on combined times. Tim was therefore through to the feature race on Sunday, avoiding the "shoot out" race later that afternoon.
For the main race on Sunday, Tim made an uncustomary poor start and completed lap one in 33rd place. With it all to do, Tim then did what he does best and got his head down and settled into a good pace, catching and passing several riders - and also benefitting from the misfortune of others - to end the 14 lap race in a creditable 18th place - one better than his finish at Brands.
Overall it was a good weekend for the team with Tim learning with every lap completed. Tim was able to exploit the new tyre in qualifying and also improved his lap time yet again during the race. Next up is Oulton Park where Tim first experienced a 600 when he raced there at the final round of the 2009 BSB season.
Team Twister we would like to extend our thanks to all at the Gearlink Kawasaki team for their valuable input and advice. Tim's mechanic, John, worked hard all weekend and it was good to have Mick and Tina keeping the team company all weekend. Thanks too, to Gibsons, Evadne, Chevin, TCX boots, Shark Helmets, MCS Scotland, Murray's Motorcycles, Knox, NGK, as well as all those who have continued to support our "Twister......Powered by Fans " campaign.
......................................
Well done once again
![:2up](./images/smilies/up.gif)