JG Speedfit Kawasaki’s Leon Haslam broke the outright lap record in all of the MCE British Superbike qualifying sessions at Donington Park, and ended Superpole on a high with a phenomenal 1’28.275, and made history in the process. But the home town hero admitted that he made a mistake at Melbourne Loop and could have gone even faster.

The Smalley rider, and current championship leader is still undecided as to his rear tyre choice, and enjoyed a good race run on the SC0 Pirelli tyre. Haslam usually opts for the SC1, harder tyre compound, but he said it will depend on the weather conditions for the double header tomorrow.

Haslam is not the only ZX-10R on the front row, as his team-mate James Ellison made it all the way to P3, with Be Wiser Ducati’s Shane Byrne making it a front row full of Showdown riders.

“I was really happy with the lap and there was that one mistake at Melbourne Loop, but the pace is super quick but the cooler conditions have thrown a spanner in the works for race distance. The team have been working well and we have made some good steps,” said Haslam at the track.

“That is the first time we have run a zero (on a race run this weekend) and it has got big step in grip and we will go away and see what the weather does. I would love to ride a zero but we will wait and see.

“To do a 1’28.2 I was happy, I was predicting a 27 high would be the pole time so to still be on pole with that is good. We had a crash on Friday morning, but since then we have worked really good with a race set up and now we have to see what the weather does.”

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