supported by
3rd May 2011
Doodson
Motorsport racer Tom Tunstall claimed his first British Superbike Evo
podium with a hard fought third place at Croft over the weekend.
The
third round of the 2011 British Superbike series was staged at Croft
near Catterick in North Yorkshire and having managed to fit in a day’s
testing following the previous round the
Doodson Motorsport Team were in a buoyant mood.
In
contrast to the opening rounds the team only made minor tweaks to the
BMW S1000RR machine during the practice and qualifying sessions
choosing to concentrate on getting the most from the powerful German
machine.
Having improved his time by nearly a second in qualifying, Tunstall was placed 7th in the Evo class and explained:
“We
think were on the right track with the bike set-up now and it’s a case
of trying to get the best out of it. There’s still room for improvement
in a couple of areas but the changes aren’t quite as big as we’ve been
making at previous races and the bike is becoming a lot more
predictable”.
The
weather for Sunday race day was challenging for both teams and riders
with very light drizzle leaving the track neither wet nor dry making
tyre choice a lottery.
On
the grid for race one the start was delayed as another belt of drizzle
blew in meaning a revised distance of 18lap and a classified “Wet
Race”. Tunstall and his team stuck to the decision of a wet front tyre
and an intermediate rear Pirelli.
In
exceptionally tricky conditions with light drizzle still falling on a
patchy drying track, Tunstall set about making his way through the
field.
When
the safety car was brought out on lap eight Tunstall was up to third in
the Evo class with Swiss Champion Patric Muff in pursuit.
As the race restarted, Tunstall struggled with rear grip and worked hard to keep his pace high.
With
only four laps remaining Tunstall had a big slide out of the Chicane
giving chance for the Swiss Honda rider chance to retake the third
place.
The
Doodson rider used the closing laps to plan his attack and on the last
lap, with only three corners remaining he swooped up the inside into
the Complex holding the place to the chequered flag and claiming his
first Evo podium of the season.
“At
the start of the race it was a tough call with tyre choice but we did
some good homework during the morning warm up session, which helped,
and although I struggled with rear grip after the safety car, I think
we made the right choice. The bike was moving around a lot and I had a
good race with Patric he wasn’t easy to pass but with a podium in sight
I would have tried anything”.
“Getting
third place is due reward for the whole Doodson Motorsport Team, as
we’ve had a challenging start to the season and everyone is working
hard to make it happen. We made best of the opportunity the changeable
weather brought and it’s great to be back on the podium.”
Race
two was held in full dry conditions and Tunstall couldn’t replicate the
excellent race one result taking eight in the second twenty lap outing.
“It's
been a very good weekend for us, we’ve made great strides since the
last round at Oulton and race one was great. But we’re not out of the
woods yet and we’ve still got work to do with the BMW. I’ve got the
taste for champagne and we need to work hard to ensure we can taste it
again soon!”
The fourth round takes place at another ex-airfield circuit at the fast and bumpy Thruxton in Hampshire over the weekend of the 28th – 30th of May
