Pata Honda’s Leon Haslam shrugged off a big highside in the opening laps of the last World Superbike test session at Phillip Island but hasn’t damaged the leg he broke at Assen last season.
The gritty Derbyshireman was spat off his Fireblade at the fast turn 11 but has only a sore backside to show for it. His time of 1'30.798 from the morning’s sessionwas done on worn race tyres, so he feels confident going into the season opener.
“It's been a good two days here after a tough pre-season with bad weather and new components. Since we got here though, everything has been running smoothly and we've been making good progress and taking the correct steps,” said Haslam.
“We did some race runs on the first day yesterday and the time I did this morning was on an old tyre. This afternoon I had a big high-side on my first flying lap and missed the whole session. I'm pretty happy that my left leg stayed in one piece, but my backside is pretty sore! The temperature got up this afternoon and no-one was able to go any faster, so I think we can go into the weekend on a positive note.”
