Leon Haslam enjoyed “yo-yo” battle in BSB Cadwell Park Race 1

Leon Haslam was happy to stay upright in a race peppered with crashes as he went from trying to find a way past Storm Stacey to defending, then chasing Kyle Ryde over the first BSB Race of the bank holiday weekend at Cadwell Park.

From a second row start in fifth, the Moto Rapido Ducati rider was quickly into the sharp end of the action, but not able to find a way around Storm Stacey, until he eventually slid out of contention at Park corner, just moments after Bradley Ray ahead, who was challenging Rory Skinner for the lead.

Speaking after the race the the official British Superbikes channel in their podium reactions interview, Haslam reflected on how he had been fortunate not to get tangled with Stacey, while picking up an additional place with Ray also out of the race:

“I got a little bit stuck behind Storm. It is difficult to pass and when I got past him, obviously the Yamahas had already made that gap and obviously, when Brad went down it put me in second.”

From there the former BSB champion had Skinner to chase down ahead, but Ryde sat in behind, ready to make a move. The Nitrous Coin bike lined up the move over the final straight to be ahead by turn one on lap eleven, changing the situation for Haslam from a defensive one, the number 91 describing the to and fro in the race between first and third as being like a ‘yo-yo’, adding:

“So, I kind of sat on a bit of a yo-yo with Rory and obviously Kyle, I could hear him up my tail pipes the whole way and he made the pass on the straight and he was good on one section, I was good on the other.

So it felt like a bit of a yo-yo to the end, but you know, I’m happy with the podium”.