Pata Honda’s Leon Haslam fell victim to bugs in a new specification of engine during World Superbike free practice and qualifying at Phillip Island and had to battle through from Superpole one into the main session.

Haslam dropped out of the top ten right at the death of free practice three, so had to take part in Superpole one in order to fight for top-12 spot. He finished in ninth, which puts him on the outside of row three.

“It’s a little disappointing after feeling really confident after the test here earlier this week. We put in a new specification engine yesterday, which is more powerful and a bit more aggressive. It’s thrown a few little bugs into our plans and we’ve only been able to make a few steps back towards where we were in the test,” said Haslam.

“I’d say we’re around 50% of the way there and we made some more progress in those two Superpole outings. But, as I say, it’s a little disappointing because in the test I was feeling really confident. On the positive side, we can see where the issues are and we just need to study the electronics to get them sorted. The chassis settings and tyres are exactly the same as we ran in the test and, apart from one or two other niggling little problems, I’m happy with all that.”