BSB: Haslam thrilled with testing pace

His team-mate might have got the better of him in terms of outright pace, but Leon Haslam left Cartagena thrilled having made progress with used tyres to dramatically improve his race pace.

The 2016 series runner-up posted an 18-lap run across two sessions on Friday afternoon without dropping lower than the 1’34 bracket, which shows a clear sign of improvement for the Kawasaki man who suffered with issues conserving the softer option Pirelli rear in warmer temperatures last season.

“This is probably one of the most positive tests I’ve had since coming back to BSB,” Haslam explained. “We got through everything we needed to and made some really, really good steps when it comes to race pace.

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“I spent the whole test working on consistency, I never got chance to go all out for a one-off lap like some of the others did but comparing my race runs versus theirs let’s just say I’m quite happy.

“Not many people were as consistent when the tyre dropped off so to do an 18 lap run as good as we did I was quite happy and we could do it in hot and cold conditions and that’s the key. 

“There are still quite a few areas where we want to progress, but it’s all coming together and we’re much further ahead than we were at this point last year and on top of that I also think we’re much further on than where we were after finishing at Brands so that’s the important bit.” 

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