British Superbikes, Donington Park - Haslam makes podium return

Leon Haslam was happy with his return to the rostrum in the opening race at Donington Park but was aware there was “a lot of homework” to stay successful on Sunday.

Leon Haslam, BSB, 2024, Donington Park, Race One, 18th May
Leon Haslam, BSB, 2024, Donington Park, Race One, 18th May
© Ian Hopgood Photography

Leon Haslam has many laps of Donington Park under his belt from his years in BSB and other championships that have visited the circuit - he holds the lap record for the GP layout.

A mixture of experience and hard work on the issues they have faced with their BMW have brought success at the third round with a first podium of the season for his own ROKiT Motorrad Team.

Though big steps have been made with stability the #91 was still experiencing difficulties in the race, which allowed Tommy Bridewell the opportunity to claim second after Haslam had held it for most of the duration:

“I’m happy for the podium, I was struggling to stop the bike from lap one. I made that mistake which obviously ran me wide but even if I could get on the back of him I really struggled with overtaking, especially with the brake that had bored over.

But honestly, I can’t grumble, I’m happy, you know, back on the podium, just credit to the team - a lot of effort has gone into this and we was there, in the battle for the lead. So hopefully now we can learn a few things from that, make a few changes for tomorrow and see if we can make a few better.

With a feeling for the track and third place accomplished Haslam looked forward to the Sunday races and what can be achieved overnight to add to the team’s success - the new home for the sprint with the meet still closed by another full length feature race:

“Obviously there’s a few people with really good pace, we was trying to manage the tyre the best we could, and you know, certain parts of the track I was really fast and others I was really struggling so yeah, there’s a lot of homework to be done tonight - that’s the first time that the bikes’ been stable and ran, so for me we’ve now got to use that, like the very first test and hopefully we can make the necessary few little steps we need”.

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