Despite a 'harsh' pass by team-mate Gregorio Lavilla, which cost him race one victory, Leon Haslam got his 2007 Bennetts British Superbike season back on track at
Oulton Park with a brace of second places.
2006 title runner-up Haslam, off the podium in the opening three rounds, showed no signs of the lingering discomfort caused by leg injuries sustained last time out at Silverstone, as he took the lead in each of Monday's races with a strong performance that came close to rewarding him with a first victory of the season.
"My target was to be on the podium in both races to get my title challenge back on track," explained Haslam who was running third in the early stages of race one behind reigning champion Ryuichi Kiyonari and Lavilla - Gregorio powering his Airwaves Ducati into the lead on the fourth lap.
But Haslam was closing in and squeezed through at Old Hall to displace Kiyonari from second - the scrap for the lead was developing with Haslam reeling in Lavilla and again, timing his move to perfection, moved into the lead at Old Hall with four laps to go.
However, 2005 champion Lavilla was in no mood to concede his fifth victory of the season and the two Airwaves riders duelled intensely, with the former
WSBK star eventually barging his way through at the Hairpin on the penultimate lap.
The Spaniard later claimed he'd missed his braking point, but the actual pass was made later in the corner - when he accelerated under the Englishman, forcing him to lift, in a move similar to that which brought down Chris Vermeulen and Loris Capirossi in
MotoGP qualifying.
"It was a harsh move but he had lost his braking point and left his tyre mark on my fairing. Greg apologised to me straightaway - it was one of those things," shrugged Haslam as he came less than a quarter of a second from victory.
HM Plant Honda rider Kiyonari took third place ahead of team-mate Jonathan Rea with Tom Sykes holding off his Stobart Vent Axia Motorsport Honda team-mate, former champion, Shane Byrne, for fifth.
Lavilla's hopes of a double were dashed by a poor start in race two, but he made up for that with a hard charging performance, carving through the pack from fourteenth on the opening lap.
