HASLAM RELISHING HOME ROUND OPPORTUNITY
LEON HASLAM is aiming to return to the podium in Sunday’s 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 Ron's Race School at the circuit in the past 10 years.
"I only live up the road from Donington so it's more than just the home round for me, it's like being in my backyard," said Haslam. "The last four rounds have been on circuits I've never raced on before or where I've 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 weekend's Misano round was messy with the wet weather and problems with our machine but it's moved us a step forward.
"This remains a learning year for the team and myself and that means a lot of hard work. I'm 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 we've been searching for consistency all year but now there's a genuine feeling that we're just about there. I'd 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 it's 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."
Ends.
World Championship points after eight of 14 rounds: 1 Noriyuki Haga, Japan (Ducati) 292, 2 Ben Spies, USA (Yamaha) 244, 3 Michel Fabrizio, Italy (Ducati) 237, 4 Jonathan Rea, GB (Honda) 167, 5 Max Biaggi, Italy (Aprilia) 135, 6 Leon Haslam, GB (Honda) 134, 7 Tom Sykes, GB (Yamaha) 130, 8 Carlos Checa, Spain (Honda) 109, 9 Jakub Smrz, Czech Republic (Ducati) 108, 10 Ryuichi Kiyonari, Japan (Honda) 98.
Manufacturers points: 1 Ducati 351, 2 Yamaha 287, 3 Honda 240, 4 Aprilia 142, 5 Suzuki 126, 6 BMW 62, 7 Kawasaki 41.
Next round: Donington Park, GB - June 28 2009.
Donington Park schedule:
Friday June 26
10.00 - 12noon Technical inspection
12.45 - 1.45pm Free practice One
4.15 - 5.15pm Qualifying One
Saturday June 27
10.45 - 11.30am Qualifying Two
2.00 - 2.45pm Free practice Two
3.00pm Superpole final qualifying
Sunday June 28
9.20 - 9.40am Warm-up
12.00noon Race One - 23 laps (92.529km/57.461 miles)
3.30pm Race Two - 23 laps (92.529km/57.461 miles)
2009 World Superbike Championship: 1. March 1 - Phillip Island, Australia; 2. March 14 - Losail, Qatar; 3. April 5 - Valencia, Spain; 4. April 26 - Assen, Holland; 5. May 10 - Monza, Italy; 6. May 17 - Kyalami, South Africa; 7. May 31 - Salt Lake City, USA; 8. June 21 - Misano, San Marino; 9. June 28 - Donington Park, GB; 10. July 26 - Brno, Czech Republic; 11. September 6 - Nurburgring, Germany; 12. September 27 - Imola, Italy; 13. October 4 - Magny-Cours, France; 14. October 25 - Portimao, Portugal.