BMW's Leon Haslam finished today's Moscow World Superbike Superpole session in confident mood with a front-row start and a good tyre strategy going into the two races.

The Derbyshire man lines up fourth on the grid tomorrow with a clear track and says that although reigning champion Carlos Checa has a fast race pace, he has a very slow bike down the long Russian straight.

“I am really pleased. It is always nice to be on the front row of the grid, and especially at Moscow where the first part of the track is quite twisty. Thanks to the boys who did a great job. It was hard work with the soft tyre," said Haslam.

"We did similar lap times on the soft tyre as with the race tyre, which is good for tomorrow. We made some good progress over the weekend and for me, we just need to do some fine tuning for the race and we can be strong. It will be difficult to overtake, but there is no one in front of me I don’t think I can’t beat.

"Carlos has a fast pace but he has one of the slowest bikes on the straight. Hopefully if I can get in front of him and hold him up in the bits where he is strong and then pull away in the sections where I am fast.”