Pata Honda's Leon Haslam is confident that he fit enough now to fight for podiums at this weekend's Istanbul World Superbike round after an encouraging performance last time out at the Nurburgring.
Although he wasn't challenging at the front, the gritty Derbsyshire man was able to hang on to the leading group of riders and now believes he can mix it at the top when some issues are ironed out in Friday practice.
"I’m really excited about going to race in Istanbul, even though some of the other Superbike riders have ridden there before. I’ve seen a few of the GP races there on video and it looks pretty awesome, but I won’t really know how it is until I get out there on the bike on Friday morning," said Haslam.
"We made some more progress last time in Germany but, although I was hanging on to the back of the leading group in race two, we still had some issues. But I do feel like I’m finally in a position – both physically and with the bike – to be fighting for podiums again. We need a few more things to fall into place for that to happen, but we’re nearly there."
