supported by
5th May 2010
The
third round of the 2010 British Superbike Championships turned out to
be a literally up and down event for Doodson Motorsport Racer Tom
Tunstall. The Yorkshireman was thrown from his machine having been
clipped by another rider.
Renowned for its undulating and
technical layout the picturesque Cheshire circuit of Oulton Park staged
the latest round of the “BSB” Championships. For Tom Tunstall the
practice sessions were all about getting dialled in. Hampered by a few
machine issues Tunstall was playing catch up going into qualifying and
only just missed the second phase by 0.07seconds taking 21st position
on the grid.
In the first of the days two races Tunstall quickly
got to work making his way through the field. Having already past five
riders Tunstall started the fourth lap by passing Suzuki mounted Aaron
Zanotti into the first “Old Hall” corner.
However exiting the
corner Zanotti re-passed and as he did the two riders touched with
Zanotti's bike clipping Tunstall’s front brake lever launching both
Tunstall and his bike into the air at over 100miles per hour.
Fortunately
Tunstall escaped the incident with only bruises however his machine
wasn’t as fortunate and was too badly damaged to be repaired for the
second race.
A sore but fortunate Tunstall explained:
“I
guess we just put it down as a racing accident as I’m sure he didn’t
mean to hit my bike, but the result is the same and it’s disappointing
and just as frustrating not to have been able to get out for the second
race.
“But this is all part of racing and we’ll dust ourselves down
and get the bike straightened out for the next round. Also I’m pretty
fortunate not to be more injured, coming off at that speed – it was
certainly a fast one. A few hot baths I’ll be sorted out and preparing
ready for the next round”
Tunstall has just over two weeks to
wait with Cadwell Park in Lincolnshire staging the first of two BSB
events in 2010 over the weekend of May 21st – 23rd.
photo courtesy of motoprofessional.com
photo courtesy of motoprofessional.com
photo courtesy of motoprofessional.com
