HM Plant Honda's Leon Haslam saw a stubborn backmarker end his victory hopes in race one at
Mallory Park on Sunday, with Mother Nature then acting against him in race two.
Haslam was trying to hunt down eventual winner Shane Byrne in the closing stages of race one, but Martin Jessopp refused to make things easy for the leaders, ultimately allowing Byrne the breathing room he needed.
"It was a real shame towards the end of that race as I wanted to have a go at Shakey, but we got well and truly baulked by Martin Jessopp and didn't get the chance," confirmed Leon, whose team-mate Cal Crutchlow took third.
Race two began shortly after a heavy shower had soaked the circuit - making a lottery of tyre choice. Haslam went for wets, but the track proved quick drying and he slipped to sixth.
"In the second race we simply had the wrong tyres on for the drying track, which was a shame as the first race showed that we could have had another podium," said Haslam, who had appeared unhappy that the race was to start under such uncertain conditions.
"Leon did brilliantly to take second in race one, but it's just a shame he didn't have the right tyres on in race two," added team manager Havier Beltran. "The conditions were very hard to predict and Shakey, Michael Rutter and Cal had the right tyres on towards the end of the race.
"We have to be happy with the improvements we've made with the HM Plant Honda Fireblades, we're still getting podiums, but we know we've got a little way to go to be able to challenge regularly for the wins. So much has changed in the team with riders, tyres and the like, but we're not giving up until we're winning races regularly again," he insisted.
Crutchlow and Haslam are now second and third in the BSB standings, but 97 and 120 points respectively behind Byrne.
