EVESHAM motorcyclist Mike Tustin experienced mixed fortunes as he continued his challenge in both the Ducati TriOptions Cup and East Midland Racing Association Championship.
Round three of the TriOptions Cup took Tustin to Oulton Park in Cheshire where he was looking to build on a profitable round two performance at Brands Hatch.
However, the TeamMTR man qualified a disappointing 19th on the grid. Having missed out on the official BSB test day ten days earlier, it was clear to see riders who did attend the test day were already well up to speed and had a clear advantage over Tustin regards their overall bike set-up.
Having struggled with bike set-up all weekend, Tustin’s race one aim was to simply get some points to continue the team’s impressive start to the season.
After some big bike changes were made overnight, Tustin produced a solid ride to finish an impressive 12th.
Race one’s result elevated Tustin up to 11th on the grid for race two, shown live on Eurosport, which was a great opportunity for him to try and get into the top ten and gain a bit more coverage.
A good start lifted Tustin into tenth place and he was able to maintain that position for the first couple of laps. However, his pace dropped off and he dropped back down to 15th to gain the last available championship point.
After missing round two of the EMRA Superstock Championship in April, TeamMTR were back in action at Mallory Park in round three.
After finishing second and first in the first EMRA meeting of 2017, Tustin was looking to grab valuable points in the bid to secure a top three overall finish.
In race one, after making a mistake on the tyre choice for qualifying, Tustin started a lowly 16th on the grid but a good start took him into the top ten after the first lap and he continued his progress to finish sixth.
Due to the race one result, Tustin was able to start from tenth on the grid for race two, giving the team a better chance of a podium finish.
Another good start allowed Tustin to move up the field into second place which he held until the bike suffered its first ‘minor’ mechanical failure of the season.
This forced Tustin to run on at two of the corners, therefore moving him down to fourth where he finished.
Tustin summarised: “It was a difficult weekend at Oulton Park, but followed by a much more constructive meeting at the EMRA Championships.
“Having made the best of a difficult meeting at Oulton Park, being able to continue TeamMTR’s impressive points scoring in every race was the only real highlight.
“It was clear to see we had lost out on some valuable track time at the official test meeting a couple of weeks before but, due to the team’s stretched budget, it was simply something the team could not afford at this point in the season.
“As for the EMRA Superstock Championship, it was another solid points-scoring result and great to add to the team’s overall championship standing.”
The next Ducati TriOptions Cup meeting is at Snetterton 300 between June 30 and July 2.
Tustin sits 12th in the TriOptions Cup on 22 points and third in the EMRA Superstock 1000cc with 36 points.