Haslam delighted with debut Suzuki win
Added on Monday, March 1st, 2010 by Carole Nash Editor
Haslam delighted with debut Suzuki win
Leon Haslam had a Suzuki debut to remember at Philip Island yesterday as he took a first and a second place finish in a thrilling opening round to the 2010 World Superbike Championship.
Haslam secured a race one victory by the slenderest of margins – 0.004 seconds – over Ducati’s Michel Fabrizio on his first race appearance on the Alstare Suzuki before losing out at the last corner to satellite Ducati rider.
But the Brit, now leading the championship after the first round, was delighted with his performance and is looking forward to continuing the good form at Portimao.
“I am so happy to get my first WSBK win and it feels great,” he claimed. “I want to thank the team and all the staff back at the workshop for all their support and hard work and I’d also like to thank Francis and Patricia Batta for having faith in me.
“The first race was such hard work and it was impossible to relax for a second. I knew that I had Michel and Nori breathing down my neck, but I just kept concentrating on my lines and my braking points and tried to hold them off. I realised that Michel was in my wheeltracks going into the last turn and would try and use the draft to get past me, but I kept my head down and charged to the flag. At the end, I didn’t know if I’d won or not, but when I realised that I had, I was so unbelievably happy and it was such a fantastic feeling. All weekend I knew that a win was possible, but thinking about and it happening are two different things.
“In race two, I had some problems with rear traction but I still thought I could win. I had a great fight with Sylvain and when I finally got ahead of him and made it stick, I thought he might act as a buffer between me and the rest. Then suddenly, Carlos was there. He dived under me just three corners from the end, on the last lap. I tried to get it back, but he managed to hold me off and take the flag. But, it feels good to take a win and a second in my first race with the team and it feels fantastic to be leading the Superbike World Championship.”
