BSB: Haslam 'played it safe' in tough Brands opener

Leon Haslam has said he played it safe in the opening MCE British Superbike race at Brands Hatch to bring it home in fourth place as the final title fight got underway.

Haslam reckons he was losing more than half a second in a certain area of the Brands Hatch circuit which meant he couldn’t fight with frontrunners Shane Byrne, Christian Iddon and Josh Brookes.

However, he maintains a healthy title lead going into tomorrow’s two races 21 points ahead of Byrne with 50 points on the table.

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“It was one of those races, really,” he told MCN after the race.

“We had a few issues in a couple of places and I didn’t want to risk too much. For the majority of the lap I’m as quick if not quicker but the places I’m losing out I’m losing a lot. I didn’t want to risk too much in the first race as hopefully we can solve those issues for tomorrow as we’re not that far away so hopefully we can go and beat him. We’ve got 21 points so hopefully we can make the bike a bit better for tomorrow.” 

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