JG Speedfit Kawasaki’s Leon Haslam secured five podium credits after his MCE British Superbike race one victory at Oulton Park, and his ‘gamble’ with the harder SC1 rear tyre certainly paid off today.
The Smalley rider wanted his Pirelli tyres to last till the very end of the race, and after a successful FP1 yesterday on the harder option compound his team decided that the harder front and rear tyres would be best for the first of the triple-header races.
Haslam was a tad uncertain if he would be able to keep up with his other title rivals at the beginning of the race, but he was always inside the top five throughout the eighteen-lapper and eventually made his way past his team-mate, James Ellison and Be Wiser Ducati’s Shane Byrne to take maximum points and podium credits at the Cheshire circuit.
“It was a plan that we planned from the start. For sure it was a gamble but I have come unstuck a few times this year when the tyres have come off at the end and we have not been able to save it as good as the Ducati,” said Haslam at the track this afternoon.
“The one (SC1 rear) was a safe option but I was worried that I wouldn’t keep up with them in the earlier part of the race. But it worked out good and with the track temperature getting up we probably could have run a zero, looking at James and Peter’s result as well. But big credit to the team one, two, three - I am over the moon.”