JG Speedfit Kawasaki’s Leon Haslam has been focusing on improving the tyre life on his ZX-10R, as he felt that he lost MCE British Superbike races last year as the Ducati of rival Shane Byrne was able to ‘save the tyre better’

Now after a successful Spanish and Donington tests Haslam is feeling confident that positive changes have been made. It is also an added bonus that Pirelli have brought out a new tyre too.

The test at his local track on Wednesday was not in ideal conditions, but that did not deter the Smalley rider as he was working on the electronics and building up valuable data that will help him in the opening BSB round next week.

“Session one and two we were doing electronics test and getting data for the electronics guys. In the last session it got really wet and cold but we were trying to test a few things just in case it is that wet and cold for race days and I am pretty happy,” said Haslam, speaking to bikesportnews.com at the circuit.

“Ending last year we moved teams and moved suspension and engine suppliers we have got all new staff working on it and for me it was putting all of that together, what I learnt last year. In Spain we made some good steps and it has been a really good winter.

“What we had last year was winning races but some tracks we had some issues and we didn’t have anything to solve those issues but now we are understanding the bike a bit more and we have made a small improvement for tyre life which was our big problem of last year, that the Ducati saved the tyre better.

“We lost races because of that, and that was our main focus to improve that tyre life which I think we have. On top of that Pirelli have brought out a new tyre that last a bit longer so we should have a double advantage on that and I can’t wait to get going.”