Leon Haslam is targeting victory on his World Superbike wild-card appearance at
Donington Park as he attempts to translate his recent run of stellar form from the British Championship.
After a season spent adapting to the HM Plant Honda, Haslam's victory at
Knockhill was quickly followed up by a double triumph at Cadwell Park, results that have duly lifted him up to third in the British standings.
The timing could not be better for the 25-year-old either as he takes on the best from the world stage alongside team-mate Cal Crutchlow, as well as BSB rivals Tom Sykes and James Ellison.
Indeed, while Haslam admits using BSB machinery could work against him slightly, he is confident that the team's superior track knowledge will see him challenging for victories this weekend.
I am going out there to win, he told
Crash.net Radio. I've got the pace, I'm not a crasher and I don't push beyond my limits. I know we can win races and that is what I am there to do. I want to race in the WSBK in the future, so I want to go out and win.
It is something I have been looking forward to all year. BSB has not gone to plan and it has been a bit frustrating, so I have been looking forward to the Suzuka 8 Hours and the World rounds. Although we have different engine specifications and different tyres, the times we were producing in BSB would place us up there.
The weekend is also likely to be an important factor in HM Plant's decision whether or not to graduate to the world stage in 2009. Rumours persist that Havier Beltran's team could make the switch next season and Haslam is keen to go with them.
My priority is to stay with HM Plant Honda and the Honda company, he added. We need to wait for their decision first, but on the other side I have to look at my other options according to what they are going to do.
If they went to WSBK then I would love to go with them, but if they stayed in BSB then I would look at my options to see what there is. The team is going really well though and we are getting close to where we want to be.
