Stiggy Honda's Leon Haslam reckons he is happy with a second-row starting slot for tomorrow's opening World Superbike races, managing to set his quickest lap ever in the second qualifying session

The bikesportnews.com columnist ended Superpole two with a third-fastest time of 1'31.342 and went into the final session with one qualifying tyre left but a dream pole wasn't to be.

"Today has been very exciting and I am really happy! We made good progress throughout the day and the qualifying went well and I got into Superpole," said Haslam.

"In the first Superpole session I used normal race tyres and finished 12th, so for the second session we put on qualifying tyres and I managed to set my fastest lap (1:31.42) and finished third.

"For the last Superpole session we put on new qualifiers again, but unfortunately I made some small mistakes and wasn't able to go any faster. I'm still very pleased with today and looking forward to starting tomorrow’s races from sixth on the grid."