Haslam suffers broken wrist, thumb, ankle in 172mph fall

Leon Haslam says he’s “absolutely gutted” to lose out on the 2017 MCE British Superbike championship title after suffering front brake failure in the deciding race and sustaining a broken ankle, wrist and thumb.

The JG Speedfit Kawasaki rider looked set for an all-or-nothing final race fight for the 2017 crown with Shane Byrne having seen his lead shrink from 33 points to just a two-point advantage in the opening two races having struggled with technical issues and an optimum set-up.

Haslam suffers broken wrist, thumb, ankle in 172mph fall

Leon Haslam says he’s “absolutely gutted” to lose out on the 2017 MCE British Superbike championship title after suffering front brake failure in the deciding race and sustaining a broken ankle, wrist and thumb.

The JG Speedfit Kawasaki rider looked set for an all-or-nothing final race fight for the 2017 crown with Shane Byrne having seen his lead shrink from 33 points to just a two-point advantage in the opening two races having struggled with technical issues and an optimum set-up.

Haslam was strongly placed in fourth, one spot in front of Byrne, before a front-brake failure at Hawthorns forced him to jump off his ZX-10RR at 172mph. The JG Speedfit Kawasaki rider sustained a broken left ankle, right wrist and right tumb to miss out on the 2017 title in painful circumstances.

“I’ve broken my ankle and I am absolutely gutted as it has been one of those weekends,” Haslam said on Eurosport TV. “I gave it everything I had in that race but I had no front brake so I had to jump off the bike. Not the best place to do it but…

“The team has done a mega job this year and I am just absolutely gutted we didn’t get it done this weekend. Fair play to Shakey he has pushed me all the way this year so we’ll be back to make amends next year.”

 

 

Haslam ended the season third in the BSB riders’ championship, missing out on the title by six points to Byrne and three points behind Josh Brookes in second.

 

 

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