Doodson Motorsport’s Tom Tunstall continued his rich vein of form fighting back from a difficult opening lap to take a hard fought eighth place at Brands Hatch.
The British Superbike Championship series made its second visit of 2015 to the Kent circuit, and this time the riders took to the iconic Grand Prix layout.
In the Superstock 1000 class Denby Dale racer Tunstall highlighted that his excellent sixth place last time out at Knockhill was no fluke as his fast pace continued – fifth in practice and eighth in the first qualifying session and classified as tenth on the grid for the race – the Doodson-backed Kawasaki rider was confident heading into the 16-lap race.
Despite a great launch off the line exiting turn one, Adam Jenkinson cut across the front of Tunstall stalling his momentum on the crucial drag uphill to Druids losing valuable positions.
Another scuffle into Westfield corner meant more lost time and ground and he ended lap one back in 15th.
Throughout the race Tunstall grafted to claw back the positions and by lap nine was back up to ninth with a three rider dice just under five seconds ahead. Over the remaining laps his pace remained strong and despite pulling them back to just over two seconds he ran out of laps and with series leader Josh Elliot crashing out on the final lap he took the flag in eighth.
“It’s fair to say I gave myself too much work after getting tripped up a bit on the first lap, but once I got a rhythm my pace was really good when you compare it to the guys at the front,” said Tunstall.
“I know if I can get away with them I can make more of a race.
“The whole weekend has been good and we’re still going in the right direction.
“I’m really enjoying the ZX-10R at the moment and I’m already looking forward to Thruxton in a couple of weeks.”
Tunstall goes into the next round at Thruxton in Hampshire, over the weekend of August 1-2, in 14th in the standings with 19 points and will be confident of making more headway on what is one of the fastest tracks on the calendar.
