Leon Haslam will not compete in his final WorldSBK races with Honda in Indonesia after being ruled unfit due to recent surgery.

Medical checks on Saturday morning deemed the Brit to have ‘right shoulder functional impairment’ with Honda and Haslam in agreement with the 38-year-old’s withdrawal from competition.
 
Haslam experienced pain and lack of strength during Friday’s first two practice sessions, having not yet fully recovered following last month’s surgery on the long biceps tendon in his right arm. With the situation unfortunately proving too much, despite the rider wrapping up the opening day just 0.371s from provisional pole position.

The final weekend of WorldSBK action sees Haslam bid farewell to both his team and to Honda, with no news so far on his future plans.

“It’s big disappointment to not be able to race here this weekend,” Haslam admitted from Lombok’s Mandalika Circuit on Saturday morning.

“This circuit has been fantastic, especially for the Honda and I was up inside the top six after FP2 despite my injury. We were only 0.3 of a second from the fastest so, of all this year’s rounds and even in my current condition, this was probably the best Friday we’ve had, so being unable to race is very disappointing.

"I really wanted to round out the season and my time with the team on a positive note, but the guys have been amazing and very supportive of my shoulder injury. I simply didn’t expect to be in this much pain and that, combined with a lack of strength, means we cannot race this weekend.

“I really want to thank Honda, HRC and the entire team because everyone’s been fantastic all season long.”