Pata Honda's Leon Haslam has said he hopes to be fit enough to ride at this weekend's World Superbike round at Imola, a place where he has stood on the podium in the past.
The gritty Derbyshire man had to withdraw from the second race at Portimao after his injured leg caused too much discomfort in other parts of his body as he had to compensate for not being able to use the leg to the full.
"It's been a long and really repetitive road trying to get my leg back in the kind of shape that I can ride with it, but we've definitely made some more progress since Portugal. I had one of the screws removed last week and that's reduced the pain when I'm on the bike," said Haslam.
"I did a race school at Donington soon afterwards and it definitely felt a lot better. I'm confident that I'll be able to race at Imola, which I'm really looking forward to. It's given me mixed results over the years - my engine blew in 2010 when I was chasing the championship, but I got a double podium there last year. I love the place, so I'm really looking forward to riding there."
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