Pata Honda’s Leon Haslam found himself unable to take part in today’s World Superbike Superpole after walking away from a big crash in the opening minutes of the session left him with a seriously-damaged Fireblade.
The Derbyshire rider found himself on the floor at turn 10 when the rear of his CBR1000RR slide out from underneath him but it’s a long way from the first time it has happened.
“The last three crashes I’ve had have spun the bike from under me on fast, third or fourth-gear corners, which is kind of frustrating. We started off on the back foot here but we’ve made progress every session and the bike felt pretty good this afternoon,” said Haslam.
“I was on target for a 57s lap on a race tyre, which is in the ball park, but I’m lucky the bike didn’t high-side me like it could’ve done. But this is something we definitely need to look into and solve for the future.
“My race pace is quite good, although tyre life is an issue for the cooler conditions, so we’ll re-assess that in morning warm-up and decide which tyre to go with. As far as the chassis is concerned, and the progressions we made electronically before the crash, I’m quite happy.”
