Haslam leads the way at Phillip Island

Added on Saturday, February 27th, 2010 by Carole Nash Editor | No Comments

Haslan scores Phillip Island pole

Leon Haslam started his 2010 World Superbike Championship campaign in fine fashion, by claiming his first Superpole win for this weekend’s season opener at Phillip Island.

Having been in control for much of the three Superpole sessions, Haslam transferred his dominance into his inaugural Superpole victory, allowing him to head the field in tomorrow’s first race from the Australian venue.

Just 0.016 seconds behind Haslam was Michel Fabrizio, with the Ducati Xerox rider taking second on the grid ahead of WSB rookie Cal Crutchlow. Crutchlow stole third on the grid in the dying moments of Superpole three, just ahead of early pace setter Carlos Checa.

Completing Superpole three were Sylvain Guintoli, Jakub Smrz, followed by the Brit duo of Jonathan Rea and James Toseland, with Toseland making his come back to the WSB series after a spell in MotoGP.

Behind the top eight, Lorenzo Lanzi headed the next melee of riders who just missed out on a shot at the third Superpole session. Not far behind Lanzi came 2009 championship contender Noriyuki Haga, with Max Biaggi and Tom Sykes in tow. WSB veteran Troy Corser rode his Motorrad Motorsport BMW S1000 RR machine to thirteenth, eager to impress tomorrow in front of his home crowd. Chris Vermeulen qualified fourteenth with Corser’s teammate Ruben Xaus alongside in fifteenth. After suffering a dramatic fall during the qualifying session, 2009 British Superbike Champion, Leon Camier, was forced to accept sixteenth on the grid for tomorrow’s opening race. Camier appeared uninjured, but will have some work to do tomorrow.

Bringing up the rear of the grid, Max Neukirchner headed Shane Byrne and Andrew Pitt in seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth, respectively. Roland Resch was unable to contest the Superpole session as a result of an earlier crash. It is unknown yet if he will be racing tomorrow, but watch this space.

After an exciting three Superpole sessions in this year’s new look Superpole, the 2010 season is already looking like it will be as exciting as ever. A new season with new riders and new bikes anything is possible. We’ll find out tomorrow who has the early advantage - will Haslam transfer his Superpole win into race victory? Read on tomorrow for all of the latest race news from Phillip Island.

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