Leon Haslam and the ROKiT Haslam Racing squad celebrated another podium today – but were denied at least one win following a last lap drama in today’s first race.
Today’s Bennetts British Superbike action at Oulton Park was delayed for around an hour and a half after heavy rain hit the Cheshire track this morning and everyone was raring to go when racing did get underway.
Starting fifth on the grid for the 10 lap Sprint race aboard his BMW M 1000 RR, Haslam – a renowned rain man – wasted no time in making up ground as he stormed off the line and straight into second place.
On Lap three, when the lead rider crashed out, Haslam capitalised to hit the front and led all the way until the final lap. By now, he had Glenn Irwin on his tail who was keen to get past.
As the pair headed into Hislops, Irwin dived down the inside, forcing Haslam wide and he had no option but to run off track. By now he’d lost second place but was able to get back on track to cross the line third.
Riding high from his podium finish, he was back out for the final 15-lap scrap a couple of hours later. Starting from fourth place, he got another quick, clean getaway to move up to third and as rain began to fall, he moved up to second.
The rain was getting heavier and riders began to fall but Haslam was looking strong as he moved up to second position, gapping the rider behind by five seconds.
However, the race was then stopped due to the weather and the number of fallers and restarted over a five lap dash. Unfortunately, once back on track, Haslam suffered terribly with his wet tyres and by lap five was unable to push any longer and eventually dropped back to finish the race 13th.
However, despite his and the team’s disappointment, he leaves the track feeling confident that he can continue his strong run for the remainder of the season.
Leon Haslam: “All in all I think it has been a good day. Yesterday we learnt a lot with the bike and then today we led the first race until the last lap before we got a little bit nerfed off and ended up third.
“Then I had an easy second before the red flag in that last one, I think I was five seconds ahead of Tommy Bridewell. But then we restarted with a rain tyre on and for whatever reason I couldn’t put my knee on the floor so we need to investigate why this was.
“I’ve been quick in wet all weekend but for whatever reason it just didn’t work in that race. It was a bit of a disaster because I really thought I could challenge for the win so yeah, it was disappointing but the positive thing is we’re back on the podium.”
Haslam will be back in action in a fortnight at Donington Park, Haslam’s local track, where he will be looking to get back on the podium.
Briefing via ROKiT Haslam Press Team.
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