Stiggy Honda's Leon Haslam has declared his two World Superbike podium finishes at Assen yesterday as his best weekend of racing ever and proved to the world that he can run at the front of the pack if he qualifies well.

The former British Superbike rider qualified on the front row for the first time ever on Saturday which set him up to be able to get away with the front runners instead of having to work through traffic as he did in the previous three rounds.
Haslam was also involved in a titanic battle with eventual race one winner Ben Spies, with the pair swapping paintwork in a four-corner scrap. Writing in his exclusive bikesportnews.com column, Haslam said:
"He was on the outside of me on the second corner, then it was me on the outside into the third one. We were elbow-to-wheel and he pushed me onto the kerbing and got through. It was so close. I rubbed his wheel with my elbow on the third right-hander and that made me lift up a little bit!

"I thought I could get him back but I made a little mistake and they dropped me by half a second on that lap. I caught them back again on the last lap but it was just too late and that was the end of the race.
"I am absolutely over the moon. This certainly was my best race ever on one of my favourite tracks. To be on the podium twice in one weekend is just awesome. I was a little frustrated after the first race, as I wasn't there in the last two laps with Nori and Ben to battle for the win," he said.

"With Spies crashing out in the second race I thought I had a great opportunity to battle with Nori, but it just took me too long to pass Fabrizio. By the time I got passed him I managed to brake him by a second , but Nori was already gone and had a nice lead. I managed to gain a little bit on him towards the end, but it wasn't enough to catch him."
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE OF HASLAM'S THOUGHTS ON ASSEN