Cadwell Park British Superbikes: Leon Haslam double victory reaction

Leon Haslam scored his second ever British Superbike double victory on Bank Holiday Monday at Cadwell Park.

The 25-year old put in a controlled performance to take his third win on the bounce following a race two victory at the round prior at Knockhill.

Haslam has won one race each year at Cadwell for the past three rounds in BSB, but this was his first double at the home circuit for the Louth-based HM Plant squad.

He said: “It’s fantastic to do the first double of the year for HM Plant Honda and this is for them and all their hard work. It was a tough weekend and we didn’t make the best start to it with a crash and fourth in qualifying but I felt we could be consistent in the race.

“In race one, I was comfortable following Tom Sykes and watching where he was quicker and trying to match him, then when I went past I didn’t push too hard, but got my head down on the last lap as I didn’t know Tom made a mistake and that left me with a gap which I held to the flag.

“In the second it was a shame that Cal went down, but it’s great to finally do a double and get three wins in a row for the team.”

Crutchlow on the other hand had a weekend to forget. A chatter problem put an end to any push for a victory in race one. And then the Coventry rider, who slipped from second in the championship to fourth at Cadwell, had to remount in race two to finish thirteenth after crashing.

The 22-year old touched the engine casing of his Honda Fireblade down at Hall Bends sending him into the grass.

“In race one I was confident that I could stay with the boys but the bike had so much chatter,” said Crutchlow. In the first corner it was fine, but the bike was chattering everywhere else, it was a real problem.

“On the throttle it was fine, but when you came off it, the problem occurred, I couldn’t work it out.  In the second race I was comfortable behind Tom and feeling confident but I clipped the kerb and down I went.

“I got back on and worked hard for 13th, but I’m very disappointed. I just have to dig deep and look forward now to Croft.”