Haslam confident of challenging for victory wet or dry

Leon Haslam is confident of challenging for victory in tomorrow’s two MCE British Superbike races whatever the weather after securing pole position in the closing moments of qualifying.

The JG Speedfit Kawasaki man was surprised to be able to string a pole lap together after struggling to find grip with the cold Pirelli tyres, finding it took a few laps to get the best out of them.

Nevertheless, he pulled it out of the bag in the final moments to take pole ahead of teammate James Ellison and Honda Racing’s Jason O’Halloran.

“Even on a used or new tyre it took a lot of laps to get the heat into it,” he told MCN. “You finish a session quite confident, knowing where the bike will spin up but then you start the next session with fresh tyres you can hardly touch the throttle!

“I made quite a few mistakes and we’d made a small change so I didn’t know if we’d gone the right way or the wrong way. With the session only eight minutes long we stayed out and managed to pull a lap together at the end without much spinning up. I didn’t know where I was as my board said P4 when I crossed the chequered flag. It’s our first full day in the rain with no traction control so it’s been a good day.”

Despite sitting out the only dry practice session with a technical issue, Haslam remains confident of fighting for victory whether it be wet or dry.

“We missed yesterday’s dry practice due to a technical issue but when we tested here in the dry last week we were quickest. We’ve probably done more laps in the wet than anybody so I’m confident whatever the weather, so we’ll see.”