Leon Haslam maintained his run of podiums at every World Superbike round this year with a second place in today’s World Superbike Championship eighth round at Misano in Italy.
The Suzuki Alstare rider struggled with problems in race one but carried on fighting hard and took eighth place. The team came up with some ideas to improve his GSX-R1000s settings for race two; they worked; and he battled from seventh on the grid to second place and his 11th podium of the season in front of 69,000 race fans.
Team mate Sylvain Guintoli had his best result of the year since the opening round in Australia in February: The French rider took fifth in race one and sixth in race two.
Local favourite Max Biaggi (Aprilia) won both races: In race one, he narrowly beat Carlos Checa (Ducati) with Troy Corser (BMW) third, but race two was much more comfortable. He took his second chequered flag of the day, over four seconds ahead of Haslam, with Michel Fabrizio (Ducati) third.
Leon Haslam – Race 1: 8th, Race 2: 2nd:
“After the issues we’ve had this weekend to do with the clutch and electronics, I thought that 8th in race one was probably the best we’d get this weekend. But, all credit to the team – because they went back to a setting that we used in USA and South Africa – the bike was much better in the second race. Race two felt like normal and the bike felt a million times better than race one, but I’ve got so many blisters on my hands because I was trying so hard. I took a lap or two too long to pass Troy Corser and Michel Fabrizio in the second race and by then Max was too far ahead to catch.
“Max is riding well and the Aprilia is currently the package to beat, but I’m confident that – as long as we all work hard – we can beat him. We do all our own development work and it’s because of all the hard work that we are competitive. I’m going to keeping fighting for more podiums; that was my aim before the season began, and it’s still the same now.
Sylvain Guintoli – Race 1: 5th, Race 2: 6th:
“Well this has been a pretty good weekend for me and I feel I am now becoming a better Superbike rider. This Championship is so competitive that you have to be right on your game in every practice, qualifying and race and it’s not something that comes easily – it requires a lot of work, from me and the team. That’s not say that we have not been working hard up to now, because we have been working hard. It’s just that WSBK is different to BSB and I have to work in a different way.
“Today, I had a better feeling with the bike in race one, but funnily enough my lap times were better in race two! The good news though, is that today I had the podium-pace and I really enjoyed my racing. Now, I just need to keep this feeling up and be even more competitive next time. Next up is Brno. It is a track I know and like a lot, so I am expecting a lot.”
Misano Results:
Race 1: 1 Max Biaggi (ITA-Aprilia), 2 Carlos Checa (ESP-Ducati), 3 Troy Corser (AUS-BMW), 4 Michel Fabrizio (ITA-Ducati), 5 Sylvain Guintoli (FRA-Suzuki Alstare), 6 Leon Camier (GBR-Aprilia), 7 Noriyuki Haga (JPN-Ducati), 8 Leon Haslam (GBR-Suzuki Alstare), 9 Shane Byrne (GBR-Ducati), 10 James Toseland (GBR-Yamaha).
Race 2: 1 Max Biaggi (ITA-Aprilia), 2 Leon Haslam (GBR-Suzuki Alstare), 3 Michel Fabrizio (ITA-Ducati), 4 Cal Crutchlow (GBR-Yamaha), 5 Carlos Checa (ESP-Ducati), 6 Sylvain Guintoli (FRA-Suzuki Alstare), 7 Shane Byrne (GBR-Ducati), 8 Luca Scassa (ITA-Ducati), 9 Noriyuki Haga (JPN-Ducati), 10 Troy Corser (AUS-BMW).
Championship Points: 1 Biaggi 307777, 2 Leon Haslam (GBR-Suzuki Alstare
