BSB: Haslam: 'This should be one of my stronger tracks'

Leon Haslam heads into this weekend’s fifth round of the 2018 Bennetts British Superbike Championship with a whopping 64-point lead after five consecutive wins over the last three rounds.

The JG Speedfit Kawasaki star’s unexpected Snetterton double saw him extend his title advantage and more importantly his podium credits tally with Haslam now 15 credits ahead of Buildbase Suzuki’s Bradley Ray.

Haslam won at Knockhill back in 2016 but missed the Scottish round last year after breaking a bone in his neck during practice. The 1.2-mile circuit has recently been fully resurfaced and in testing there last week, Haslam lapped 0.6 seconds under the existing quickest ever BSB lap and 0.8 seconds under the lap record.

“Knockhill is a track the Kawasaki goes well at, but I think the new surface will close the gap a bit,” Haslam explains. “We’ve just tested there and I’m feeling really good, the lap times weren’t just good but they were also consistent and our tyre wear was also strong.”

Haslam has struggled for mid-season form in recent years, but after winning at Snetterton for the first time, the series leader is confident heading in to the next few rounds.

“Snetterton was a good result for us as I’ve not even been on the podium there in the past, but Knockhill is one of my stronger tracks so I want to capitalise on that. For me, I think it’s important to win every weekend as that’s what we’re here to do. Each win is five podium credits and that’s what matters at the end of the day. The 64 point championship lead I’ve got means nothing as that’s going to disappear come Round 10, it is literally all about those podium credits and if we can keep winning we can build a good buffer for the Showdown.”