Still-injured Leon Haslam took huge delight in his Suzuka Eight-Hours win yesterday after having most of his World Superbike season so far written off through injury.
The Pata Honda teamster badly broke his leg at Assen and has been on the comeback trail so to win the toughest endurance race on the calendar is testament to the racer's gritty determination.
“This means so much after the tough season I’ve had. I am happy to get this win, but with my leg injury my condition is not perfect, so I couldn’t show my maximum potential. I’d like to come back next year, to show how competitive I can be at Suzuka. For me, the hardest part of the race was watching Takumi defend our lead in the rain in the last half-hour but I just want to say thanks to the whole Musashi HARC-Pro team,” said Haslam.
“They did a great job and also Mickey and Takahashi-san rode really well. I feel sorry for Jonathan and Kiyo but it’s a long tough race and anything can happen. I’m just glad that we managed to hold on to the lead until the end. It’s a really magical feeling.”