Team Suzuki Alstare rider Leon Haslam recorded his first ever WSBK win in the first race of this year’s Superbike World Championship at Phillip Island today. He led the race from start to finish and took the flag, just four thousandths of a second ahead of Michel Fabrizio (Ducati). Leon has been very strong in the preseason tests and today’s results showed that his performances in testing have been no fluke and well deserved.
Team Suzuki Alstare rider Leon Haslam took his first ever Superpole victory at Phillip Island today after consistently being in the top two or three throughout practice and qualifying.
The young Briton stormed to a lap of 1:31.229, over half a second inside the lap record, in Superpole 3, ahead of Michel Fabrizio (Ducati) and fellow Briton Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha). For a while it looked Leon’s team mate Sylvain would be joining him on the front row of the grid, but a late surge by Crutchlow, relegated the Frenchman to fifth place and row two.
Team Suzuki Alstare rider Leon Haslam didn’t chase lap times in today’s first qualifying session but still ended with the third fastest lap of the day. The young Briton worked all day trying to find a good race set-up and did not even use any soft tyres during the timed session this afternoon, when his best lap was set on race rubber.
His team mate Sylvain continued to improve his understanding of his GSX-R 1000 Suzuki and finished qualifying with the eighth quickest time. Spaniard Carlos Checa (Ducati) posted the fastest time in qualifying, with Michel Fabrizio (Ducati) second.
Team Suzuki Alstare riders Leon Haslam and Sylvain Guintoli continued to work on finding the best set-up for their GSX-R 1000 K10 Suzukis instead of chasing lap times and ended the two day test 7th and 15th respectively. Strong winds buffeted the 4.445 kilometre circuit today and most riders took things cautiously, especially in the afternoon. Ducatis filled the top four places at the finish, with Michel Fabrizio the fastest, with a time of 1:31.650. Second was Shane Byrne, with Jakub Smrz third and Carlos Checa fourth.
Briton Leon Haslam ended the first day of the Phillip Island tests with the third fastest lap, just behind Carlos Checa (Ducati) and Michel Fabrizio (Ducati). Despite missing his flight, due to a snowbound Birmingham airport, and only arriving in the early hours of this morning, Sylvain managed to stay awake all day and finished a very creditable 12th.
Team Suzuki Alstare are happy to announce that they have signed an agreement with a new sponsor, Viru, for 2010. Viru is an Estonian beer and is distributed by the Italian company Biscaldi Group, with whom Alstare has worked with on many SBK operations in recent years.
