World SBK News
The Silverstone Superbike weekend saw Suzuki Alstare’s Leon Haslam miss the target in his quest to make a major dent into Max Biaggi’s points World SBK Championship lead.
A third and fourth place in the two races helped him to recover eight points on his Italian rival, but he missed out on the wins as his fellow Midlands man Crutchlow took the honors.
Leon Haslam says: “I feel that it has been a bit frustrating because I think it could’ve and should’ve been better,” said Haslam. “When our package is perfect, I know I can challenge for wins, but when it is not, it can be a bit of a struggle and that’s how it was today.”
“I made a bad start in the first race, but managed to close the gap on the leaders and was getting ready to mount an attack on Jonathan (Rea), but had gearbox problems for the last seven laps, so couldn’t push harder and get closer to him. A podium is not bad though, and it was good to be up there with two other Brits.”
“We used a different engine in race two, but everything else was the same, including the tyres. However, this time the grip feeling was completely different and I really had to work hard to keep in the top four or so. On the last lap, I had a big fight with James (Toseland). He passed me, but I was determined to get him back and that’s what I did.”
“On the last turn, he tried to get round the outside of me at the beginning of the start-finish straight and hit me, breaking my tail fairing and exhaust bracket in the process. It was a bit of a hairy moment, but happily we both stayed on our bikes and crossed the line OK. It was a tough end to a hard race but, just like race one, I was happy to finish ahead of Max.”
