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Leon Haslam leads Superbike World Championship:
Superb pair of seconds at the races in Portimão (Portugal)
Portimão, Portugal: Team Suzuki Alstare together with DARK DOG rider Leon Haslam took a pair of superb runner-up spots in the two races of the second round of the Superbike World Championship in Portimão and increased the series lead at the same time!
Throughout the whole weekend, Leon Haslam again proved to be a candidate for the title of the Superbike World Championship: he led the way during the first qualifying at the Autodromo do Algarve, finished the Superpole on Saturday with a fourth position meaning the start from the front row of the grid and fought tooth and nail with Max Biaggi (Aprilia) in both 22-lappers on Sunday.
Although, the DARK DOG rider Leon lost out on victory by the narrowest of margins - two tenths of a second in race one and just over a tenth in race two - he recorded a sensational pair of seconds and keeps on leading the overall standing of the championship with sixteen points ahead of second placed Max Biaggi.
Leon's teammate Sylvain Guintoli started both Sunday races from the third row of the grid after a hard-fought Superpole and put in a pair of solid performances, finishing 13th in the first race and ninth in the second.
DARK DOG congratulates Team Suzuki Alstare and its riders Leon Haslam and Sylvain Guintoli to their results at the European debut of the Superbike World Championship and is convinced that the team will gain further podiums during the upcoming race taking place on 11th April in Valencia, Spain!
Leon Haslam
Race 1: 2nd, Race 2: 2nd
"If anybody had told me before the start of the season that I would've won one race and taken three podiums in the first four races, I would not have believed them. It's a great feeling to win a race, take three runner-up spots and be leading the championship and my aim is to try and maintain this kind of consistency as long as I can. Today's races were very hard and I had a lot of fun battling with Max. His bike is fast and there were a couple of places where he could get on the gas quicker than me, but my bike was good on the brakes. I did pass him quite a few times, but making it stick was a different matter. The grip level was down in race two, but it was the same for everybody, and the lap times were generally down on race one. The first time I jumped on the Suzuki Alstare bike I thought it was a good package and all the good work the team has done has proved how good it is. Of course, there are always some areas to improve and we'll be going to the next round in Valencia hoping to put one over Max and all the other riders. I've had one victory and now I want more!"
Sylvain Guintoli
Race 1: 13th, Race 2: 9th
"To be honest, I feel like I messed up the weekend a bit. Race one was a complete disaster and it all started when I braked too late for turn one on lap two and had to go straight on. That cost me a lot of positions and time and I was in 22nd place at the end of that lap and had a lot of catching up to do. After that, I never really found my rhythm and perhaps 13th was not too bad. The second race was better, but in this championship you cannot afford to be average. You have to be on your game at all times. I don't know why, but I feel that I didn't start the weekend quite right and then it was always going to be difficult. The bike is really good, so it's me who has to raise the bar and perform. I intend to attack Valencia right from the start of the weekend and be in a good position on the raceday."
Results / Race 1:
1 Biaggi (ITA-Aprilia)
2 Leon Haslam (GBR-Suzuki Alstare)
3 Rea (GBR-Honda)
4 Checa (ESP-Ducati)
5 Camier (GBR-Aprilia)
6 Byrne (GBR-Ducati)
13 Sylvain Guintoli (FRA-Suzuki Alstare)
Results / Race 2:
1 Biaggi
2 Leon Haslam (GBR-Suzuki Alstare)
3 Crutchlow (GBR-Yamaha)
4 Checa
5 Camier
6 Toseland (GBR-Yamaha)
9 Sylvain Guintoli (FRA-Suzuki Alstare)
Overall standing
1 Leon Haslam (GBR-Suzuki Alstare) 85
2 Biaggi 69
3 Checa 60
4 Fabrizio 46
5 Haga 43
6 Rea
7 Sylvain Guintoli (FRA-Suzuki Alstare) 33
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