Top ten for Tuuli at Misano

Dynavolt Triumph’s Niki Tuuli scored a top ten finish in race one at the Misano World Circuit “Marco Simoncelli” while teammate Harry Truelove crossed the line in twenty-second place.

Tuuli qualified tenth for the 18-lap FIM Supersport World Championship race and, due to another rider’s penalty, was promoted to ninth on the grid for the start of the race.  The Finn got off the line well but lost a couple of positions on lap four, dropping to twelfth where he remained until lap eleven when he was able to recover some ground to come home ninth at the flag.

Niki Tuuli: “I made quite a good start and I was in a good position in the first lap but with the group I don’t feel enough confidence to overtake people, I just stayed behind them because I feel like I can’t overtake.  Then in the first 3 or 4 laps I tried to push too much, then I relaxed a bit and I improved the lap time but I feel like at the moment I am not fast enough to just go with the top six.  I did my best but I need to improve so much to make it better.  In the end I improved some positions but I’m not here to ride in P10 or P12. I feel really frustrated and need to improve myself, I need to ride differently with this bike, I think that’s the only way we can improve.”

Teammate Harry Truelove also struggled with good feeling in the first race of the weekend at Misano.  The Brit rider had made an improvement across the sessions, with another step forward in qualifying but he wasn’t able to translate that into a strong result in the race.

Harry Truelove: “A disappointing race, I thought in qualifying we had made a good step but didn’t really manage to carry it over into the race. I’m not really sure why, just never really felt like I was able to make the bike work properly. I didn’t feel good all race to be honest.  Disappointing but hopefully I can work on myself a bit more and get up to speed.”

Dynavolt Triumph Team Manager Simon Buckmaster: “Top ten for Niki but we have to say he can do the lap times because on his own, his sector and lap times match the faster guys so he and the bike are capable of challenging at the front. Ok maybe top three was beyond us today but when he does the lap times, he comes behind someone and he just doesn’t overtake.  This is something we have to discuss with Niki.  We have done everything we can with the bike, he is just going to have to make it happen now because we don’t come here to finish ninth.  He is better than that and the bike is better than that.  We have to discuss with Niki how he is going to make it happen.  Harry improved in qualifying but then he didn’t really progress in the race.  We need to look for more from both of our riders.”

Tuuli salvages tenth, Truelove crashes out of race two

It was another disappointing outcome for Dynavolt Triumph in today’s FIM Supersport World Championship race two at Misano.

Niki Tuuli again started well from tenth on the grid but a small mistake on lap three cost him several positions.  Tuuli battled back for tenth at the line in what had turned into a lonely race two for the Finnish rider.

Niki Tuuli: “Today in the morning I felt not bad for the race, my feeling was quite relaxed. The first lap, the first corners went quite well but then I went wide in turn 8.  I tried to come back and tried to improve my riding because I was alone more or less all the race.  I could make a little bit better pace than yesterday but I need to find the way to ride the bike better, try to ride more relaxed but right now I can’t find the way.  Results like this for sure are not good, we are not here to ride for P10 and also for the team it’s not good, I’m sorry about that.  I need to understand how I can ride better.”

Teammate Harry Truelove was the second retiree of the race when he lost the front and crashed out at turn 16 on the opening lap and, unable to re-join, his race was over almost before it had started. 

Harry Truelove: “Obviously not a fantastic race. I thought from warm up that we’d made a little bit of an improvement with the bike and with the feeling I was getting so I was a bit disappointed I crashed out especially so early so I didn’t get the chance to feel everything. It is just the way it goes, not ideal.  I’ve never been here before so going to Donington Park next, another track that I know, we can hopefully make some steps and crack on.  We’ll see.”

Dynavolt Triumph Team Manager Simon Buckmaster: “A disappointing weekend for us.  Harry crashed out on the first lap, he’s ok and there’s not so much damage to the bike but obviously we didn’t gain any information from him to see if he could have improved from race one. We made a huge change in set-up for Niki for race two but in the end the result was the same.  The one lap time is not so bad, not winning pace but better than ninth or tenth. Just no result.  It shouldn’t have been the same running two radically different set-ups, one is wrong and one can go a lot faster, simple as that.  The reality is, Niki needs to ride more relaxed, move and work harder on the bike.  We always try to improve but most of the improvement needs to come from Niki.”