BSB: Haslam: 'Too many mistakes cost us pole'

Leon Haslam has said too many mistakes cost him a chance of pole position in qualifying for tomorrow’s opening MCE British Superbike race at Oulton Park.

The JG Speedfit Kawasaki star will start fifth on the grid tomorrow afternoon after a number of moments in qualifying saw him unable to string a lap together to challenge the leading trio of Jake Dixon, Shane Byrne and Josh Brookes.

A mistake saw him run on at Hizzy’s chicane on a pole pace lap before further mishaps on his quickest lap saw him lose further time to his rivals.

“I made too many mistakes really, on my fastest lap I was on for pole and lost 0.3 seconds to myself towards the end of it and it was still a 1’34.1 so we could have been close to pole if not on pole,” Haslam told MCN.

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“We went the wrong way with the chassis and we were getting a big reaction from the bike when braking over the bumps. We’ve a good plan to improve that tomorrow. For how many mistakes I made to still be one tenth off pole I’m happy.”

It’s been a strong weekend for Haslam so far considering he’s riding injured after his crashes at Silverstone last week. Having cracked a bone in his arm, he’s also suffering from a number of other aches and a bout of flu.  

“The arm isn’t too bad, I’ve a few other aches and pains but the main issue is I’ve been full of cold all weekend! I feel good on the bike and confident for tomorrow, hopefully we can have two good battles and two good races.”

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