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28th June 2010
British Superbike racer Tom Tunstall emerged from an eventful latest round of the championship with more points on the tally despite having riders quite literally falling at his feet.
At
only 1.41miles in length, Mallory Park in Leicestershire provides a
unique challenge for riders of the high powered 1000cc machines.
Comprising of three tight chicanes and a hairpin there is not rest bite
between hard acceleration and heavy braking meaning each of Sundays two
30lappers was going to be physically testing.
Lap
times as expected were frustratingly close with Tunstall posting a time
of 57.4seconds to take 23rd on the grid but only 0.15seconds from a
tantalisingly close top 12 position.
With
track temperatures of over 50degress and ambient close to 30DegC, the
BSB riders were in for an even more physical encounter than first
thought.
The
first race was abandoned after only five laps following a nasty
collision in the ultra tight Gerrard’s chicane. On the restart the
33riders once again attempted to funnel through the awkward first
chicane. Unfortunately ex-MotoGP rider Chris Burns collided with
another rider and hit the floor directly in front of Tunstall’s bike.
Trying to avoid hitting either Burns or his stricken Aprilia Tunstall
lost time and positions ending lap one back in 24th.
Once
back up to speed the Yorkshireman impressively worked his way back up
the field & with a handful of laps remaining Tunstall had caught a
four rider dice for 14th.
After
out braking Supermoto Champion Christian Iddon into “Edwina’s Chicane”
the Doodson Motorsport backed rider then dived up the inside of
Buildbase Kawasaki’s Adam Jenkinson at the start on the final lap.
Jenkinson fought straight back but Tunstall once again made the pass
stick and crossed the line in 15th collecting more championship points
and only a couple of tenths from a season best finish.
In
race two Tunstall got off the line well only to suffer a similar
misfortune – this time with BMW rider Steve Brogan crashing out in
front of the Huddersfield based rider.
However this time Tunstall was forced off the track, across grass and gravel rejoining well
down
the pack having lost a lot of ground. Although he valiantly fought back
the time lost was too great and he was unable to replicate the race one
result.
“I
really worked hard today, the job was made tougher after being held up
with crashes in front of me in both races, and we also had a gearbox
issue which didn’t help. I fought hard every lap and in race one to get
points was great. In race two the task was too great after being forced
off the track, it’s just one of those things. I’m really happy with how
the bike & team worked throughout the weekend and we’ll be looking
for more points at Knockhill!”
Round six of the BSB Championship takes place north of the border in Scotland this weekend, with two races on the 4th of July.
photo courtesy of motoprofessional.com
photo courtesy of motoprofessional.com
