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Tom
Tunstall made his return to British Championship racing this Sunday
at the 6th round at Croft. The Hardinge Ice Valley rider secured a solid
top ten position after dedicating almost all the weekend to the development
of his 2005 bike.
Off the back of his return to racing and a points scoring World Supersport
ride last weekend, the Harding Ice Valley Team headed to North Yorkshire
to compete in what was only their second race of the British series
this year.
Qualifying was tough, as the team had committed to using the sessions
to optimise the set up of the new 2005 machine. Resulting in Tom being
placed 14th on the grid.
Speaking after qualifying: "We’ve had to bite the bullet and
focus on getting the 05 bike on stream. Unfortunately having missed
out on a lot of track time this year has meant starting from scratch
with the new bikes at the sixth round. I’m not very happy with
the position, and the wet session this morning hampered us, but we’re
making some really good progress with the bike."
The race was classified as "Wet" for the start as the track
had damp patches and very light rain was falling, however all riders
opted for full dry tyres. Tom launched off the line well however a gear
selection error in turn 2 cost the Huddersfield rider dear as he was
swamped and finished lap one back in 17th. Tunstall took time to find
a quick rhythm, but by lap 9 onwards the Honda rider’s lap times
were consistently around his qualifying pace on harder race rubber and
continued to drop. During the final half of the race Tom’s times
were comparable to those of Kawasaki mounted Pere Riba in 5th as he
carved his way back through the field, finally crossing the line in
9th.
"The first part of the race I took too long to get going and paid
the price, maybe I was still building confidence with the new bike?
I really enjoyed the second half and I am now very happy with the new
bike. I have gone quicker in every session as we have honed it further.
Considering the challenge we set ourselves this weekend I am pleased
with 9th but I’m sure we’ll be far stronger from the start
at Knockhill."
The seventh round of the championship takes place north of the border
in Scotland at Knockhill near Dunfermline on the June 26th.
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