First Place Finish for Haslam at Brands
JG Speedfit Kawasaki’s Leon Haslam celebrated his return to Brands Hatch with a first-place finish in the second race of round 2 of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship.
Leon Haslam put in a superb ride at Brands Hatch on Sunday to claim his, and the team’s, first win of the 2018 Bennetts British Superbike Championship. The 34-year-old came out on top in difficult conditions in the second race of the day to take his 32nd career BSB victory and move into third overall in the early championship table.
With mixed conditions at the Kent venue during free practice on Friday, Saturday’s qualifying session had ideal weather, but the times were again incredibly close and although only one tenth of a second separated Leon and team-mate Luke Mossey, the former qualified in fifth place for the opening 30-lap race on Sunday with Luke back in 13th.
A good start by Leon saw him complete the first lap in third place, a position the Derbyshire rider held onto until half-race distance when Jason O’Halloran relegated him to fourth. The duo were nose to tail for the remainder of the race but, try as he might, Leon was unable to find a way through and had to settle for fourth with Luke, a double winner at the venue in 2017, disappointed to have finished back in 15th.
Leon started race two from third and the front row of the grid while Luke was going to have work to do once more from 15th and by lap six they were in second and 13th respectively when the race was stopped owing to rain. Restarted over the shorter distance of 22 laps and with tricky, damp conditions it was a challenging race for all concerned but Leon ran in the top three throughout.
As the race wore on, no fewer than five riders were disputing the lead but with Jake Dixon crashing out and Shane Byrne slipping back it became a straight fight between Leon, Glenn Irwin and Michael Laverty.
Positions changed hands regularly but on the penultimate lap, Leon moved into the lead and brilliantly held on for his first win of the season, considerably closing the gap to Byrne and Bradley Ray in the championships table.
Luke battled manfully in the wet weather conditions and his efforts were rewarded with 13th place and three more points.
Quattro Plant JG Speedfit Kawasaki team-mates James Hillier and Ricky Stevens / Ryan Charlwood were also in action, contesting the British Supersport and Sidecar Championship races respectively. Using the weekend for further testing ahead of the international road race meetings, James placed 22nd in the opening race before being forced to retire in Sunday’s outing.
Meanwhile, Stevens and Charlwood, using a new 600cc engine for their 2018 campaign, were out of luck in their first race, retiring on lap seven of the 15-lap race. Sunday’s second race saw them finish in eighth overall but the fourth of the 600cc competitors thus getting their first points on the board.
