The 200cc class was axed after the 1998 season and Tim had considered retirement due to the lack of a competitive 125cc machine.  He mentioned this to local sponsor Bertie Boyd at the first meeting of 1999 and was delighted when Bertie offered him the use of his Village Carpets team's spare 1995 Honda RS125.

    The bike was updated and the results soon began to materialise.  Tim finished third in the national Short Circuit Championship and ninth in the prestigious Imperial Tobacco Superkings Championship.

    Tim also raced in the eight round Ulster Television sponsored Champion of Champions series where he finished fifth overall in the 125cc standings, taking a number of notable scalps and establishing himself as a major player on the national 125cc scene.

    At the end of the season Tim was awarded the Prince of Kirkistown Trophy.  This was given to the rider with the highest aggregate points score from the last round of the Superkings series and the 125cc race at the International Sunflower event.

   Tim has continued to race with the Village Carpets team ever since.  The highlight of this alliance came in 2002 when Tim was crowned Irish National 125cc Short Circuit Champion.  In that same year Tim finished fourth in the Imperial Tobacco sponsored Richmond 125cc Championship, a series which includes results from National road races as well as Tim's discipline of short circuits.

  Also in 2002, Tim contested the International North West 200 race for the first time. Having qualified a creditable eleventh among some of the best 125cc road racers from the UK and beyond, Tim was lying ninth in the race when he unfortunately crashed out of contention at a wet section of the course. Thankfully he was unhurt and was encouraged by the knowledge that his lap times before the crash would have easily placed him within the top ten at the finish.

   Hopes were high for the 2003 season, with Tim's bike adorned with the coveted No1 plate.  However a series of crashes marred the season and Tim was unable to defend his Championship title successfully.

   Away from the short circuit scene, Tim once again entered the North West 200, hopeful of the finish that had eluded him in 2002. Practice was disappointing, although Tim did manage to qualify with the leading group of riders in fourteenth place.

  Conditions for the race were not favourable, with some sections of the course being wet whilst others were dry. However, Tim got away to a good start and was lying in eighth position when it started to rain heavily.  Desperate to finish rather than crash again, Tim eased the pace considerably and coasted home in thirteenth position. Once again, review of the lap times showed that Tim would have finished well within the top tem had the conditions not deteriorated so badly.

  Tim also contested the Mondello Park round of the British Championships where he had the chance to test himself against the best short circuit riders in the UK.  Having qualified in seventeenth, Tim was hopeful of a point scoring finish in the race and was very pleased to come home in ninth position.  This was a very enjoyable event for Tim and the rest of the team and it is hoped to enter more rounds of this prestigious televised series in the future.

  In addition, Tim will again compete in the Irish round of the British Championships at Mondello Park and hopes to enter further rounds, held on British circuits, as he considers that racing against the best in the country is the ultimate way to improve his skills.