Slow start but solid finish for Tunstall; In association with STIHL

Huddersfield Daily Examiner (Huddersfield, England), August 27, 2008

DENBY DALE privateer Tom Tunstall (left) qualified fifth within the Cup Championship rider after the 'F1 style' qualifying session, missing the cut by less than half a second.

In the first of the 18-lap races the Hardinge Ice Valley racer lost ground off the line as the bike failed to get away cleanly.

But he battled through to finish sixth in the first race then in race two exiting the Barn corner on the opening lap the rear end of the bike snapped sideways and Tunstall managed to stay onboard but lost another two places in the process, eventually finishing fourth.

Tunstall said: "I certainly had the pace for the podium today, but lost far too much time in the early laps passing slower riders.

"The team have worked well improving the bike and I'm riding well, but we desperately need to improve getting the bike off the line for Croft."

Race I: 1 Leon Haslam (Honda) 26:42.195, 2 Tom Sykes (Rizla Suzuki) 0.551, 3 Shane Byrne (Ducati) 8.819, 4 Leon Camier (Ducati) 11.981, 5 Cal Crutchlow (Honda) 18.970.

Race II: 1 Leon Haslam(Honda) 22:11.771, 2 Tom Sykes (Rizla Suzuki) 0.541, 3 Shane Byrne (Ducati) 0.910, 4 Leon Camier (Ducati) 1.269, 5 Michael Rutter (Ducati) 16.556.

Championship positions: 1 Shane Byrne pts 364, 2 Tom Sykes (Rizla Suzuki) 254, 3 Leon Haslam 249, 4 Cal Crutchlow 236, 5 Leon Camier 205, 6 Michael Rutter 195, 7 James Ellison 177, 8 Simon Andrews 127, 9 Michael Laverty 125, 10 Tristan Palmer (Honda) 84.

Cup championship: 1 John Laverty (Ducati) pts 351, 2 Martin Jessopp (Honda) 240, 3 Gary Mason (Honda) 212, 4 Tom Tunstall (Hardinge Ice Valley) 211, 5 Chris Burns (MV Agusta) 199.