Dynavolt Triumph & Tuuli achieve first podium together
After two fully dry free practices and Superpole, drops of rain were reported in all sectors of the 4.3km Indonesian track ahead of the start of the first FIM Supersport World Championship race of the weekend at the Pertamina Mandalika International Street Circuit and it looked very likely it could turn into a wet race.
Dynavolt Triumph’s Niki Tuuli got a good start to race one from fourth position on the second row of the grid but was down to fifth by the first corner. By lap two he was up to second and the lap times were indicating that the track was bone dry. Tuuli felt strong and was fiercely trading places with Federico Caricasulo for second throughout the 18-lap race but when the chequered flag waved, despite pressuring the Italian, he had to be content with the third step of the podium, his first with the team.
Niki Tuuli: “After yesterday we improved the bike and the position how I can ride. I felt so much better immediately and I felt I could really use my body and the balance is good. Until this moment I was struggling a bit with my old position and I couldn’t really push. I’m super happy with the race, P3 is a really good position and I can say if we can finish in the top six at every race to collect the points to finish the year really well. I think we are already showing strong potential, we have a podium and it’s only the third race of the year. We work really hard with the team and we will try to improve for tomorrow to find something to stop the bike a little bit better and I think for sure we will fight again for the podium.”
Teammate Harry Truelove struggled with lack of confidence through all the sessions at the challenging and unpredictable Mandalika circuit despite him making huge strides in Superpole earlier today. Starting race one from nineteenth, the young British rider had a lot of work to do to make it into the points. By the time Truelove had found his feeling, he was too far behind to make up the positions and finished the race in seventeenth position.
Harry Truelove: “Qualifying was really good I think we made a big step, about three seconds. I started to feel somewhere like I was competitive but then I’m obviously really disappointed with the race. I took it too easy because of the rain and I didn’t push enough to stay with the group ahead and then I was just on my own battling for last place basically so I’m really disappointed but we’ll try again tomorrow, make some improvements, sort myself out basically and get on it.”
Dynavolt Triumph Team Manager Simon Buckmaster: “I’m really pleased, our first podium of the year a fantastic job by Niki. I’d like to say congratulations to the whole team for all the hard work they put in, not just Balero and Calin on Niki’s side but for everybody in the team, it’s a team effort so George, Sarah, Ryan, Devis and this week, Wan who has stood in for a crew chief that had to go home with illness. Congratulations to the whole team for a fantastic job. In reality it’s much more special because although Can Oncu and Federico Caricasulo rode a great race, they are on bikes that have been allowed an upgrade by the FIM which has not been fully checked so we are the first bike that runs in a fully properly balanced, checked rule. Fantastic result, and thanks to Triumph for all the help. For Harry he’s obviously new to everything and we had the rain but it’s hot here and that doesn’t have as big an effect as he might expect in England and the simple fact is he was too slow at the start, by the time he got into the race it was too late for him. It’s all a learning experience he showed great improvements in qualifying and the points are there for the taking. Tomorrow is another day and we’ll do everything we can for him for race two.”
Tuuli battles pain to finish sixth in race 2 at Mandalika
Dynavolt Triumph’s Niki Tuuli rounded out the top six in today’s hot and sticky FIM Supersport World Championship race two in Indonesia.
Tuuli enjoyed another good start to the 18-lap race but after one lap he’d been demoted to sixth behind De Rosa who proved a bit of a road block to the Finn for the first few laps. Tuuli did manage to get by the Italian for fifth but, still feeling the effects of long-covid in the intense heat and humidity, was unable to defend the charge from Schroetter on lap ten and so defended sixth for the remainder of the race.
Niki Tuuli: “After yesterday we tried to improve the bike a little bit, yesterday I struggled a bit with change of direction I think we improved that but maybe we lost a little bit of grip but I felt over the week we improved the bike and my riding a lot so I’m super happy with how we work with the team. Yesterday I had so much pain with my hand because over the winter I didn’t do too much training because of the condition of my body I was sick. I’m so happy that I recovered in these two weekends because I wasn’t even sure how I could ride. Today in the race I struggled with too much nerve pain in my arm and I just lost the power so I just tried to manage the pace. I think we rode really well, yesterday my condition was not enough to go faster. I’m happy how my brain is working because in the past years for sure I don’t ride like this, I try to go over the limit. I think we did a really good job, I am really happy. I can’t wait to come back in Assen, I try to fix my body a little bit but, for sure we will be stronger in Europe.”
Teammate Harry Truelove finished just outside the points, coming in sixteenth behind Sarmoon. Truelove had battled his way up to fourteenth by lap fourteen before a mistake cost him two places and a couple of Championship points.
Harry Truelove: “Much better today I think from warm-up and everything with the consistent weather I felt a lot more confident with what I was doing. On the first couple of laps I attacked a bit more and could get with the group and then when things settled down and the gaps appeared, I felt good and I felt that I could actually push the bike more and get into more of a rhythm with it. It’s nice to finish the first proper race in the dry and get it out of the way. Really happy, feel like I’ve made an improvement just need to keep chipping away at it, get to Assen, somewhere I know a bit more, and we can attack from the word go.”
Dynavolt Triumph Team Manager Simon Buckmaster: “We are really happy. We improved the bike for Niki, he improved himself and he feels really confident on the bike now and he’s ridden a really good weekend. People probably don’t realise that when he couldn’t ride last year in Australia it turned out that he had had Covid and he hasn’t been able to train in the way he normally would so he is having problems with his right arm. We have the gap to Assen now and he will come back stronger. A really good job by him and all the team. With Harry that was a much better race from him and he learned a lot. He knows where he needs to improve and obviously, we keep trying to improve the bike for him but it was a good step with Harry, we always knew it was a big learning curve but now we go to tracks in Europe in conditions that he knows and I know he will grow. Well done to everyone in the team and let’s look forward to Assen.”
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