Haslam relishing home race opportunity

Arai sponsored rider LEON HASLAM is aiming to return to the podium in Sundays ninth round of the World Superbike Championship at Donington Park, GB after a troubled run of races in the last four rounds.

Haslam is sixth in the Championship and knows the Donington Park circuit as well as anybody after working on his father Rons Race School at the circuit in the past 10 years.

"I only live up the road from Donington so its more than just the home round for me, its like being in my backyard", said Haslam. "The last four rounds have been on circuits Ive never raced on before or where Ive visited just once so we knew it would be a tough few weeks.

The Stiggy team has been working extremely hard to get us back on the pace and hopefully back into the top three like we were in Australia and Holland. Last weekends Misano round was messy with the wet weather and problems with our machine but its moved us a step forward.

This remains a learning year for the team and myself and that means a lot of hard work. Im just so pleased that the team owner Johan Stigefelt has put the right people in place around me to deal with that work."

Haslam is one point behind the fifth-placed rider, factory Aprilia-mounted Italian Max Biaggi, and is optimistic of climbing the standings even further in the final six rounds.

"As a new team weve been searching for consistency all year but now theres a genuine feeling that were just about there. Id like to get that under way with a good qualifying run and two good finishes at Donington on Sunday.

There are 15 factory machines out there so do what we have been doing as a relatively private operation is good but its not good enough, we can do better. Sixth place in the Championship would probably have been acceptable at the start of the year but after coming so close to winning in Holland the race victories have to be our target now."

For more news, events, latest helmets etc please visit www.whyarai.co.uk

Archibald Lifts Inaugural Martin Finnegan Trophy

Adrian Archibald lifted the inaugural Martin Finnegan Trophy for the fastest Irishman at this year’s TT Races.

The trophy is a solid bronze replica of Martin’s famous Arai helmet complete with the Lusk man’s trademark flames, and was presented to Archibald by Finnegan’s wife, Brenda, at the TT prize presentation. The trophy also comes with a brand new Arai RX-7 GP helmet and a cheque for €1000.

Archibald’s lap of 128.883mph in the Dainese TT Superbike race was enough to hold off competition from Ryan Farquhar and Michael Dunlop to secure the three-times TT winner the award. Martin Finnegan was a true star of road racing on and off the bike and was tragically killed, aged 29, whilst competing in the Tandragee 100 races in May 2008. This award was created in his honour by his supporters club.

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Michael Dunlop Wins His First TT

Michael Dunlop followed in the footsteps of father Robert and Uncle Joey by winning the Relentless Supersport 2 race on Wednesday June 10.

Heavily delayed due to the weather conditions, the 21-year old stole an early advantage in the damp conditions and was never headed, coming home 31 seconds ahead of fellow Arai rider, Bruce Anstey (Relentless by TAS Suzuki) and Manxman Conor Cummins (McAdoo Kawasaki).

As a tribute to TT legends Robert and Joey, Michael wore a helmet that featured elements from their distinctive designs on route to victory on his privately entered Street Sweep/Marlow Construction Yamaha.The win came 11 years after father Robert’s last win in the 1998 125cc race and 9 years after Joey’s win in the same class in 2000.

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Leon Haslam's new tattoo

Ouch!

Here's an exclusive pic of Leon Haslam having a new tattoo, sent to us by his lovely Fiancee Olivia Stringer.

Did he cry? Not at all!

The letters, R A L E Z stands for family members Ron, Ann, Leon, Emma and Zoe and the 'O' at the top is for Olivia. There's space below for future Haslams as well!

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Arai clean sweep at the NW200

Arai riders claimed victory in all of the races at this year’s North West 200.

The Japanese helmet brand – celebrating 25 Years of being distributed in the United Kingdom - is synonymous with pure motorcycle road racing and the North West 200 is one of the greatest examples of this discipline.

Located on the northern coast of Ireland, the 9 mile ‘Triangle’ course allows riders to battle on closed public roads, reaching speeds of over 200mph threading between kerbs and blasting past houses. Though the annual event’s programme was cut short to five races due to the inclement weather, it was not enough to dampen the action.

William Dunlop, son of the late Robert Dunlop, set the standard for the day after taking victory in a dramatic 250cc race. After a race long dual with his brother Michael, Christian Elkin highsided out of the lead, taking both riders out to leave the door open for William to snatch the win. Chris Palmer followed in second to make it an Arai one-two.

In the event’s only Superbike race, what looked set to be a last lap fight between HM Plant Honda rider Steve Plater and Relentless Suzuki’s Bruce Anstey, a result was declared after just two laps due to an incident, handing Lincolnshire’s Plater the victory and the second Arai one-two of the day.

The Supersport podium was an Arai whitewash. In an almost repeat of the Superbike race, Steve Plater and Anstey once more battled it out for the spoils and again it was Plater who came out on top to clinch his eighth ever NW200 victory. Michael Dunlop completed the podium.

Like Plater, William Dunlop secured a second NW200 victory, this time in the 125cc class. Leading from the first lap, Dunlop rode a commanding race to win by seven seconds and emulate his father, Robert, as the last man to win the 125 and 250 races in the same day.

Despite the weather playing a part in the outcome, current National Superstock champion leader, Alastair Seeley, continued his current form by taking victory in the Superstock race, repeating the same feat he managed the previous year.

For all the latest Arai UK news see www.whyarai.co.uk

WSB Monza - a mixed day for Arai riders

The historic Monza circuit, Italy, once again played host to some classic, all-action races but the day’s two heats were far from straight forward for the Arai riders.

In Race 1, Yamaha’s Ben Spies look set to take the win following an epic scrap with the two Xerox Ducatis of championship leader, Noriyuki Haga, and Italian Michel Fabrizio. Having pulled a slight gap, Spies Yamaha appeared to run out of fuel, therefore promoting Fabrizio the victory and Haga in second.

Race 2, Haga’s 250th WSB start, ended after the popular Japanese collided with a bird and the following loss of feeling to his arm causing him to crash out at high speed, but uninjured. With Spies taking victory, Haga lead to the championship is now 54 points. Having qualified on the second row, Hanspree Ten Kate rider Jonathon Rea battled his way to a 5th in Race one before going one better in Race 2.

The Northern Irishman finally finding a setting on his Honda Fireblade to consistently battle at the front of the pack.Fresh from two podium places at the previous round at Assen, Holland, Leon Haslam had a weekend to forget. The Stiggy Honda’s qualifying gamble didn’t pay off, giving him a lot of work from the fifth row of the gird.

Despite battling through the pack in Race One, a technical problem saw him retire on the last lap. Race Two went much better Haslam as he rode the pace of the leading pack to come through to 7th place. Unfortunately, Haslam slipped to fourth in the overall standings after Fabrizio’s excellent results.

Noriyuki Haga - 2nd, DNF “Right at the start of Race 2 I was hit by a bird on my right arm; it hurt a lot and I lost all sensation, with strong pain and pins and needles in my right arm and hand. I tried to continue to race but it was too difficult to ride and as a result I unfortunately fell. Yes it hurts but I should be back in top shape very soon. Race 1 went much better for me of course and I really enjoyed the racing against Ben and Michel. I though at the end that I would surely end third but then Ben’s bike stopped so close to the finish line and I finished in second as a result. I’m sorry for him as he deserved the win and this year me and him will continue to battle it out.”

Leon Haslam - DNF, 7th "I went out on my second bike today, which I hadn't been riding all weekend, and took a bit of a gamble with it. We had some issues with the suspension, but we decided to stay with the set up we used in Assen. It took me a few laps to get into it, but I was able to run a good pace. The pace in the end of the race was definitely good enough for a place on the rostrum. It was a tough weekend, with bad qualifying results and a disappointing first race. To finish the second race in seventh race place is a good enough result, I am pretty happy."

Jonathan Rea – 5th, 4th “We just had a few problems with the bike in the latter stages of the race – I don’t know whether it’s the light fuel load or what, but it developed a bit of chatter which was quite hard to dial out after race one. I got busted by a pretty hard move by Laconi in that race and, by the time I’d got back past him, I’d lost touch with the leading group. In Race 2 I got a much better start and tried really hard to catch Fabrizio and Kiyo, but they had a little more left in the tank at the end. Still, I’ve equaled my best Superbike result and we’ve shown that we can race at the front now.”

For all the latest Arai UK news see www.whyarai.co.uk

No catching Crutchlow, it seems!

Cal Crutchlow took a dominating victory at Monza, Italy, in round five of the World Supersport championships to increase his championship lead to 18 points over Eugene Laverty.

After taking his fourth consecutive pole position, Crutchlow looked in commanding form for the race, but another average start gave the British rider work to do in the opening laps. Monza’s long straights always provide excellent slipstreaming and the plucky Arai rider took full advantage to initially take lead on lap five from previous round winner, Eugene Laverty, before getting in a race-long dice.

With two laps to go, Crutchlow put his head down and broke the chasing pack to storm to a memorable victory.

Cal Crutchlow, Yamaha World Supersport Team, (1st): “We came here looking to finish in the top five to be honest on a circuit I don’t know. We did a good job this weekend at Yamaha so thanks to everyone who put a lot of effort in. we were never as fast as we could have been but we worked hard. When I got the break in the race today I went for it, I was willing to do anything to win, you could see by some of the passes I was taking no prisoners! It’s all credit to the team who got me here so a great win for them!”

For all the latest Arai UK news see www.whyarai.co.uk