Flying start to season for Tunstall

Tunstall progressed though qualifying to take 14th place on the grid to start race one.

Under three hours later the full capacity grid was formed for the debut “100-mile” race in different but equally challenging conditions.

With a dry line around almost all the track but still wet in places tyre choice was far from straight forward.

Opting for a full wet set-up Tunstall was aggressive from the off and held 13th after the first lap.

Taking care not to overheat his wet tyres Tunstall held position until lap four when the rain once again started to fall.

Seizing the opportunity Tunstall cut through to eighth, then third place on the next lap battling with American James Rispoli also on wet tyres.

The next circulation saw Tunstall not only take the lead of the race, but commandingly so, pulling out a two second advantage.

Stretching his advantage each lap over Rispoli the pair had a ten second gap over the rest of the field.

However, as the shower passed the tables started to turn in favour of the riders on the dry weather specification tyres.

Having led for more than a quarter of the race Tunstall was forced to relinquish the lead and manage his tyres to the flag and crossed the line in sixth place sealing his best performance yet in the Superstock 1000 class.

There was no time to celebrate as the bike was refuelled and wheels changed to the dry option for race two.

By now the track was all but dry and as the race got underway Tunstall struggled from his 6th place on the grid with the suspension setting which was a compromise from the wet.

Holding 11th place, a false neutral saw him run off the track at the third gear “Old Hairpin” rejoining in 18th.

Undeterred he clawed his way back to 14th at the finish.

The difficulties left Tunstall with an 18th place grid slot for race three.

A solid start was hampered by an early red flag after oil was dropped on the track.

On the restart Tunstall’s progress was stymied as he battled with TT racing regulars Dean Harrison, Dan Kneen and James Hillier.

When he did get clear track his pace continued to build and he set his fastest sectors of the weekend but with too large a gap to the riders ahead he came home with more points in a solid 14th place.

“It’s great to be back racing and I’m grateful to Integro and all our supporters to be on the grid,” said Tunstall.

“To start the season battling for the race lead and with our best result was fantastic.

“As always it’s a team effort and I was able to capitalise on the conditions, for once it would have been great to have just a little more rain though!

“Race two was tough with the bike set-up and race three was hard work but it’s great to come away with three solid points scoring finishes and some excellent foundations to build on for the rest of the season.”

Round two is a four-day affair, with the Superstock class taking on two races on the shorter Brands Hatch Indy layout over the Easter holiday weekend April 14-17.