26 June 2006

Set-Up Woes For Tunstall at Scorching Misano Race

Tom Tunstall was denied the chance of another point scoring finish at the sixth round of the World Supersport Championship in Misano, Italy after scorching temperatures and a lack of grip plagued the team throughout the weekend. Due to the track conditions, Tom was unable to show his usual pace but the determined 29 year-old still managed to dramatically improve on his qualifying performance to secure 22nd place in the 23 lap race.

Tom and the Hardinge - Ice Valley Motorsport team arrived at the Misano circuit, which is located on the Adriatic Coast of Italy, full of confidence having completed a successful test at the Castle Combe circuit in the UK. Unfortunately, the far hotter conditions in Italy were completely new to the British based squad, meaning that the team had to start from scratch when it came to setting-up the bike.

After qualifying in 34th position, Tom showed his pace and consistency in the race to move up to 22nd place at the finish. During the race, which was viewed by a strong weekend crowd of 61,000 spectators, Tom had to overcome numerous problems including a broken left foot rest caused by Tom putting so much pressure on the peg in an effort to get more grip.

"All in all it's been a tough weekend especially as we expected a good result here after making some real improvements to the bike in testing. After the last race in Silverstone we made a big jump with bike set-up but when we got to Misano and the track was over 50 degrees, the changes just didn't work.

"In the race I made an average start and got a bit held up by a couple of guys that I know I'm faster than. Once I was past them I was able to close down the group in front and I was pleased to be doing such consistent times. The problem we've had here this weekend is that we still don't have a base setting that works at every track we go to, so every time we arrive somewhere new we're having to work very hard to get the bike working. We came here full of confidence after improving the bike in testing but it didn't work and that's been frustrating.

"Once again we've worked hard, learned a lot but we didn't really get what we deserved in terms of a race result. At the end of the day we know how tough the competition is, this is a world championship, but we've shown at races this year that we are good enough to get in the points so we'll be aiming to do that again next time out."

The next race for the Hardinge - Ice Valley Motorsport team is in Brno, Czech Republic on 21st to 23rd July 2006. Before that the team are aiming to complete another day of testing in Europe to work on gaining a solid base setting for the Honda CBR600RR.