LEON HASLAM, BMW MOTORRAD MOTORSPORT
Race One: 8th Race Two: 7th Championship Position: 5th
“I’M PRETTY HAPPY WITH THE PROGRESS…”
In race one at Brno Leon Haslam made a good start from 13th on the grid and was circulating in the top ten, before slipping back into a five-way battle with Joan Lascorz, Leon Camier, Tom Sykes and Jakub Smrz. Momentarily finding himself back down in 11th place, a late charge from Haslam saw him claw his way back into the top ten on the penultimate laps, and eventually fight his way up to eighth by the finish line.
Temperatures were even higher for race two but Leon made another good start up into the top ten from his fourth row grid position. Fighting all the way, Haslam also passed Sylvain Guintoli and then moved past Tom Sykes on lap 9 to move into seventh. An on-going battle with a rejuvenated Lascorz held Haslam up as he fought for track position with the Spaniard, swapping places and battling all the way throughout the final lap – and just beating him to the chequered flag.
It was an inspiring result for Leon, having started way down on the fourth row of the grid, and these results move him back into the top five in the championship standings. The races were won by Marco Melandri and Max Biaggi, with each rider finishing second in the race he didn’t win, and series leader Carlos Checa taking two thirds.
“In the first race I had a good start but on new, grippy tyres I was struggling a little bit with my pace, so some of the riders got past. But when the grip levels went away, I maintained my pace – and they couldn’t – so I caught up again! That was a good battle and I passed three guys during the final laps, which was exciting.
In race two I was held up a little bit so Ayrton, who was in sixth, could pull a gap on me. Then I was involved in a really good battle with Lascorz in the closing stages. It was two pretty hard races to finish in eighth and seventh – and this is not where we want to finish, but we understand what the issue is and know what direction to take now. So all in all, I am pretty happy with the progress we made and I hope that we can make the difference at my next home race at Silverstone.”
JONATHAN REA, CASTROL HONDA
Race One: DNS Race Two: DNS Championship Position: 10th
Castrol Honda rider Jonathan Rea sat out the Brno round of the WSBK championship, taking time to heal his right arm which was broken at Misano during morning warm up on race day, June 12.
Noriyuki Haga and his PATA Aprilia finished race one in 12th and race two in 10th; he lies 9th in the championship. Jakub Smrz and his Effenbert Liberty Racing Ducati got to the chequered flag in race one 11th, but DNF’d in the second outing, moving him back one place to 12th overall in the title chase.
Despite falling for the second time in succession while in the leading mix for the podium places, Kawasaki Motocard.com rider Broc Parkes remains second in the World Supersport championship. With series leader Chaz Davies unable to add to his race win total in the Czech Republic, Parkes still has five rounds to make up the points deficit of 36 to the British rider. The race at Brno was stopped three laps early by a red flag, after a technical problem with another machine and a few crashes – including a small trackside fire – brought proceedings to a halt. Broc was understandably disappointed;
“I lost the front end again. I have been struggling with feel from the front in the past two races and I do not know exactly why. I had no warnings in the corners and just fell by losing the front. I am very disappointed this time, more than at the last race. We had the pace last time but I just did not have the race pace at this round. It is not good to crash in the first few laps. But we are still second overall and have a lot of races left to run.”
The next World Superbike championship round is at Silverstone, on July 31.
For more information on Arai Helmets please visit www.whyarai.co.uk
For more information on the World Superbike Rounds please visit www.worldsbk.com
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