The 2016 British Superbike season roared into life at Silverstone and it proved to be a more challenging start than usual for Superstock 1000 racer Tom Tunstall.

Denby Dale’s Tunstall returned to action on the Integro Team Kawasaki ZX-10R.

The Integro team arrived at Silverstone for the opening round having tested in both Spain and the UK, however crucially were forced to miss the official test at the Northamptonshire track.

A combination of changeable weather and a revised schedule meant Tunstall had only completed eight laps on a fully dry track heading into the race.

After qualifying in an 27th place on the grid Tunstall said: “It’s fair to say we’re were on the back foot.

“ Testing in Spain went well but once we were back in the UK and on cooler tracks it was clear we had a lot of work to do.

“Missing the test at Silverstone meant we’re behind the competition with little data to draw from and we made a significant changes for the race”

Ending lap one back in 31st it was soon clear that the changes made were not the solution Tunstall had been hoping for.

Chipping away he worked up to 27th before struggling with very heavy rear tyre wear meaning he slipped back to 30th by the flag.

Disappointed by the result, Tunstall reflected on the difficult weekend.

“The lap times and result clearly show we are not currently able to reach anything like our full potential yet.

“And while that can be very frustrating in reality with the cards we’ve been dealt on the run up to and over the weekend it isn’t realistic to expect to be at the same level at the end of last season.”

“On the positive side we have a good direction where to improve. The new bike has great potential, the engine is very strong and we just need to build up an understanding of how to get the best from it. There are no short cuts, we’ll run through it logically and apply that to testing before we get to round two. I’m confident we’ll get back fighting for the results we know we are capable of very soon.”

The second of 12 rounds takes place in just under three weeks time at Oulton Park in Cheshire over the May Day Bank Holiday weekend.