The second WorldSSP race of the year on Sunday at the Chang International Circuit brought high drama with Niki Tuuli (Kallio Racing) clinching third place on the podium after a difficult start to the 17-lap contest.

Tuuli had a tricky start to the race from 13^th on the grid, racing in ambient temperatures of 37°C and with a track temperature of 50°C. The Finn survived a massive highside on the first lap, before composing himself and catching up with the front runners to take third place at the flag.

Tuuli arrived with a bang in WorldSSP in 2016 with his second place in Lausitzring and two further rostrum results at Magny-Cours and Jerez, also setting the fastest lap in those three races. He started 2017 with fifth place in Australia and is now back on the podium again.

“It feels really great and I’m so happy!” Tuuli commented. “It has been a couple of really hard weekends for me, because at Phillip Island and here they are new tracks for me and we have had problems to find a setup. But on Saturday we found a really good setup and my feeling was really good on the bike, so I was confident.”

He added, “But in the race it was not a good start, on the first corner someone pushed me out of the track and then I tried to push too much. On the third corner I lost the bike totally, it was like a rodeo! Then I just tried to keep my mind and pushed where I could, and ride smart. Now it’s a podium and that’s really awesome.”