WSBK – An almost perfect weekend for Haslam! – First Superbike race

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An almost perfect weekend for Haslam !

WSBK - An almost perfect weekend for Haslam! - First Superbike race

Author of the pole and the fastest lap in the race, winner of the first round and second of the second: Leon Haslam was able to tame the Ducatis yesterday at Phillip Island! In Supersport, Eugene Laverty was intractable. Report of the three races.

First Superbike race

Noriyuki Haga takes the lead, but Leon Haslam steals from him in the sequence following the first turn. The official Ducatis follow him like his shadow, while Jonathan Rea takes 4th place ahead of Cal Crutchlow, Carlos Checa, James Toseland, Troy Corser and Chris Vermeulen.

From the second lap, Leon stunned the competition by setting an almost record time of 1’34.193. His pursuers must spit in the gloves … but the following lap, Toseland just "crashed" at the top of Lukey Heights: the high side is not very violent, but the R1 is destroyed by rolling down the slope…

A few seconds later, it’s Chris Vermeulen’s turn to make a mistake: the two riders who have just returned from MotoGP seem to have put the pressure on each other and unfortunately cracked during this opening round….

In front, Haslam continues his race alone. Leon is half a second ahead of Fabrizio and Haga. Rea does what he can to stay in contact while without his wake, Crutchlow hangs on but ends up falling into the Honda hairpin … There is no more Yamaha in the race from the 6th lap !

"I had no luck in the first round", regrets Cal on his premature return to the pits:"I felt I had a good pace and was riding comfortably in the Top 5 when I made a small mistake".

The reigning Supersport world champion has entered "a little better in the hairpin than Rea"and had to move aside to avoid it. Biting in the less clean part of the track, the Englishman loses the front of his R1. Fortunately, in Superbike a second round makes it possible to catch up !

Carlos Checa, until now housed in the wheel of Cal, does not lose his focus in the least and immediately takes the aspiration of the Honda n ° 65. Max Biaggi, 10th at the end of the first lap, is only a few lengths away from the Ducati n ° 7 … Could the Roman Emperor reach the Top 5? ?

A few lengths further, Leon Camier and Sylvain Guintoli are fighting for 7th place. The two rookies from the British Superbike quickly picked up the pace and are already establishing themselves as serious customers for the 2010 season !

On the track, there are therefore three superb fights: at the head of the race, Haslam must bear the pressure of Fabrizio and Haga. Behind, Checa, Rea and Biaggi take turns doubling to gain 4th place. Further still, Guintoli takes matters in hand and facilitates the return of Camier and Smrz to Checa…

So much so that at the halfway point, six drivers can fight for 4th place! The podium, on the other hand, is too far away: the Suz ‘and the two official Ducatis are more than 5 seconds from the peloton and the gap is constantly increasing..

Eight laps before the end, Guintoli overtook Checa and took 6th place! Camier false company to the group in the Honda hairpin in the 15th lap: too generous in braking, the young Briton must go straight to avoid a collision with his teammate Max Biaggi !

Camier is in 14th place on the next lap, but the Aprilia team can nevertheless smile broadly since at the same time Max Biaggi takes the lead of the peloton. !

Three laps from the end, the Ducati n ° 84 is showing signs of excitement: front and rear wheels which leave the ground more and more often, the chassis which seems to twist in all directions and the motorcycle which rushes wildly. Fabrizio is motivated !

The victory is finally played between the two young drivers Haslam and Fabrizio, Haga apparently contenting himself with his 3rd place. "I consider that my result in the 1st round is very good with my fall during the warm up and my cramps during the race", confirms" Nitro Nori ", very calm.

Haslam widens the gap in the first portion of the last lap but Fabrizio comes back like an arrow in the second! Michel and his Ducat ‘cannot attempt an interior in the particularly fast final curve but take the suction of Leon and his Suzuki and dislocate them shortly before the finish line…

The gap on the line is only 5 thousandths of a second: this is the closest finish in the history of the SBK World Cup … and especially the first SBK World Cup victory for "Pocket Rocket "Leon! Fabrizio and Haga join him on the podium.

In the last four laps I tried to figure out where I could go but it wasn’t obvious so I attacked until the finish line and to tell the truth I thought I would get there", admits" the hurricane mich " !

Leon Haslam is delighted to get his first victory: "the race was difficult and I couldn’t relax for a second", testifies the English!"I could feel the breaths of Michel and Nori in my neck, but I just focused on my lines and braking cues trying to keep them behind me".

The superb fight for 4th place finally turned to the advantage of Johnny Rea on his Honda, who was ahead of Max Biaggi and his RSV4 by half a second under the checkered flag. Like Haslam, Rea had to fight hard to get this result, not that bad in the end….

"We’ve had issues all week, really, from winter testing last weekend to testing and racing this weekend.", explains Johnny. Proof that the task was difficult: his teammate Max Neukirchner finished in 12th place.

Our national Sylvain Guintoli finished in a good 6th place ahead of the Ducati de Checa and Smrz and the BMW of Corser. Handicapped by a bad start, the Frenchie could not moor the right wagon. "But I am learning the pace of World SBK races and the fact that they last longer than I was used to (in British SBK, Editor’s note) ", remarks Sylvain.

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