Leon Haslam caught in battle but “had the pace” to fight for win in Assen BSB Race 1

Leon Haslam had started from pole in the first race of the Assen BSB weekend after using his experience to overcome the Assen wet, but lost out at the start after a long hold of the lights, before fighting back with a long duel for second with Kyle Ryde a highlight of his performance on his way to completing the podium at the TT Circuit.

The Moto Rapido Ducati rider is no stranger to Assen with the Netherlands track regularly featuring in the calendars over both BSB and the WSBK championship over Haslam's career.

A winner at the track when a Kawasaki rider, Haslam was well prepared to deal with the mixed conditions with rain affecting the Assen weekend.

Qualifying on pole in the wet Q2, the number 91 went backwards after a long hold at the lights, with Ryan Vickers leading at turn one, and Scott Redding on a charge as he looked for a much needed win in the title hunt. Haslam explained his slip backwards, speaking to British Superbikes in their race reactions segment after Race1:

“I felt pretty good all weekend to be fair and I felt we did have the pace, potentially to go with Scott, but got a terrible start, got passed by three of four people and by the time I got my way up to the back of Kyle and made a little bit of headway and a few passes, that kind of hindered us a little bit, to catch Scott”.

That moved Haslam into a race long duel for second with championship leader Ryde, both Ducati riders, there were few places to make gains, with Haslam trying and failing several times to pull a pass into the final chicane. The duo were quick, lapping faster than Redding over the closing laps, and had they not had to make up for the start then tussled, Haslam felt he could have challenged for the win, adding:

“It kind of determined where we was and I was playing a little bit of yo-yo to Kyle and made a few passes that, you know, didn’t help our case to catch Scott really.

It was a good battle. Bit frustrated ‘cause I felt that we did have the pace to potentially go up there with Scott, but we got a third, we got a podium. We’ve got to take the positives and look to improve in just a few areas”.

Though happy to pick up a podium finish in third, Haslam was aware of where he was stronger and where he can make gains for Sunday’s sprint and feature races, as he outlined in closing:

“Kyle was super strong coming back towards the pits, you know, the double right and the long radius corners and I was really good in the lefts, which was gaining a little bit of time back and I was really struggling when I did make a pass to keep it on line.

I was dropping into the chicane every lap. Made a few mistakes there and made a few mistakes into T1 as well, so it was more my mistakes than it was strengths and weaknesses, you know, I just needed to keep it a little bit smoother”.