Haslam braves the storm to take BSB win.

World Superbike championship contender Britain's Leon Haslam took an astounding win in round seven of the British Superbike Championship at Brands Hatch in Kent last weekend.

The Renegade Ducati World Superbike team were using the British Superbike round as a test session before the World Superbikes round at Brands on the 1st August. The test however, turned into trial and tribulation the for the established stars of the championship.

21 year old Leon took his Ducati 999 from a third row start to the lead on the penultimate lap and eventual victory by six seconds, as rain poured down on the Kent circuit.

After qualifying on Saturday, Leon was already aware that he and the team were headed in the right direction but he had no idea that this would lead to one of the biggest days of his career.

"Its been a good testing weekend so far, Pirelli is here with lots of different tyres and we've managed to get through them all and pick the ones that are best," said the young Haslam. "So obviously from my point of view we've found out a lot of problems, which will be perfect for the World round when we come here in August. We were tenth and 11th after qualifying and basically on the same lap time me and Nori, and as far as lap times I feel we can go quicker, but we are concentrating on set up more than anything. Its going to be hard against the Michelin and Dunlop guys, more so here than at Oulton Park just because of the lay out of the circuit, but on the whole we got a lot done and hopefully we'll get more done tomorrow during the races."

Dry practice and then a wet race day made conditions tricky out on track and tyre choice was a big influence. Race one started wet but a drying line appeared as the race progressed. Leon put in a good performance and brought it home in eighth position. However it was race two where his talents and tyre choice were to shine.

"The second race was really wet at the start, but it started to dry mid race, then it was drizzling again at the end so mixed conditions," explained the 21-year old rising star. "The Pirellis were awesome; they were a little bit harder than the tyres that I chose for the first race. They were absolutely perfect, they gripped the same from the first lap to the last lap.

"I was dropping back just getting used to the settings and when I started coming through I was counting the riders in front of me and thinking well maybe I can get to there. I knew I was going real fast but I couldn't see the leaders and I was just looking at my boards and I didn't know I'd won it when I crossed the line because it said P2 with one lap to go, so I didn't know if someone else had gone in the distance. Absolutely awesome!

"All the regular British Superbike riders are doing this week in and week out. We're racing against Michelin and Dunlop people at a track which is just as hard as any other, but for Pirelli it is a big thing and I'm really looking forward to the World round now in a few weeks time," added the former 125 GP rider.

Leon's win, his first in Superbike and his first since 2000 when he was riding 125's, was made even more special by the fact that it fell on Father's Day in the UK. Leon's father 'Rocket Ron' one of the greatest riders Britain has ever produced has been by Leon's side since he began riding as a small boy and is now Leon's Mentor, confidant and right hand man preparing the bikes and nurturing his son's career to follow in his footsteps.

"That is the best Fathers day that I've ever, ever had, for what he's just done there it's made everything," said the youngster's ultimately experienced father. "It was supposed to be a test but they're all racers out there and once they get out there they just give it their best, and I'm real pleased that he was good enough this time.

"I know he has the talent. I've chucked him through the different bikes very fast. But this is the first time that he has been on a similar bike for two years now and I'm just hoping that he can show the others that he can do it. I'm really looking forward to the World Superbike round here."