Haslam crashes out of 1st BMW win

Leon Haslam wasn't aware he was leading the first World Superbike Race race at Assen by such a large margin before crashing, just six laps from what looked like BMW's WSB maiden victory.

Starting from seventh on the grid, Haslam was in the thick of the action throughout the first race, tussling with Tom Sykes and BMW team-mate Marco Melandri for the lead during the dry first half before slipping to fourth when the red flag was deployed because of rain.

Beginning from the front row for the nine-lap final sprint in soaking conditions, Haslam pushed to the front and began lapping three seconds faster than the opposition, his quest for victory becoming simpler when closest rival Jonathan Rea crashed out behind him.

However, Haslam promptly followed suit when he dropped the S1000RR on lap three having established a huge nine second lead over his more tentative competitors. Making the bitter realisation after the returning to the garage, the British rider was not aware he commanded such an advantage and was crushed to miss a maiden BMW win.

“Race one was dry at the start. I made a small mistake when I was battling with Carlos Checa  and dropped back to sixth, but I came back in the lead. I had a bit of a tyre issue but the race  was red flagged anyway, due to the rain. At the re-start it was raining. I passed Johnny Rea quite easily," he said.

“It was feeling pretty smooth and easy – and then I had a big crash. I didn't realize that I was pushing so much. After race one I was very disappointed because I could have lost a second per lap and still won. The positive thing is that we feel pretty confident in the rain.”

Haslam risked an intermediate front tyre for changing track conditions for race two. He ran as high as second before slipping into the clutches of his slick-shod rivals as the track dried. Nonetheless, Haslam battled on to finish fifth.

“In race two, we opted for an intermediate front and a slick rear tire. Three minutes before the start I knew that we needed a slick front, but they wouldn't let us change the tire because we were running out of time. After two or three laps, the front tyre was just pushing and bouncing and I didn't have any corner speed," he said.

“I was surprised that riders didn't pass me sooner. Somehow I managed to hold Eugene and Marco's pace, even with the intermediate tyre. I thought I got Marco over the line; it was really, really close. In hindsight I'm happy because we nearly got on the podium with an intermediate front tire.” ––Paul Duchene

Assen World Superbike race two - conditions wet
 

1. Jonathan Rea (Honda World Superbike Team) Honda CBR1000RR 36'45.936
2. Sylvain Guintoli (Team Effenbert Liberty Racing) Ducati 1098R 36'48.755
3. Eugene Laverty (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 36'58.574
4. Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) BMW S1000 RR 36'58.698
5. Leon Haslam (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) BMW S1000 RR 36'58.700
6. Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) Kawasaki ZX-10R 37'06.329
7. Ayrton Badovini (BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet) BMW S1000 RR 37'22.253
8. Max Biaggi (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 37'23.683
9. Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing) Ducati 1098R 37'27.286
10. Michel Fabrizio (BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet) BMW S1000 RR 37'29.866
11. John Hopkins (Crescent Fixi Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 37'43.451
12. David Salom (Team Pedercini) Kawasaki ZX-10R 38'18.529
13. Hiroshi Aoyama (Honda World Superbike Team) Honda CBR1000RR 38'19.512
14. Leon Camier (Crescent Fixi Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 36'50.679
15. Leandro Mercado (Team Pedercini) Kawasaki ZX-10R 36'51.166
16. Mark Aitchison (Grillini Progea Superbike Team) BMW S1000 RR 37'03.892
17. Carlos Checa (Althea Racing) Ducati 1098R 37'08.183

RT. Lorenzo Zanetti (PATA Racing Team) Ducati 1098R 34'19.554
RT. Jakub Smrz (Liberty Racing Team Effenbert) Ducati 1098R 30'10.158
RT. Chaz Davies (ParkinGO MTC Racing) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 18'38.070
RT. Maxime Berger (Team Effenbert Liberty Racing) Ducati 1098R 18'42.162
RT. Brett McCormick (Liberty Racing Team Effenbert) Ducati 1098R 15'33.182
RT. Niccolò Canepa (Red Devils Roma) Ducati 1098R 12'21.167

Assen World Superbike race one - conditions wet
 

1. Sylvain Guintoli (Team Effenbert Liberty Racing) Ducati 1098R 18'38.395
2. Davide Giugliano (Althea Racing) Ducati 1098R 18'41.028
3. Carlos Checa (Althea Racing) Ducati 1098R 18'41.426
4. Max Biaggi (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 18'42.322
5. Eugene Laverty (Aprilia Racing Team) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 18'42.769
6. Michel Fabrizio (BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet) BMW S1000 RR 18'49.754
7. Jakub Smrz (Liberty Racing Team Effenbert) Ducati 1098R 19'04.807
8. Niccolò Canepa (Red Devils Roma) Ducati 1098R 19'15.957
9. Marco Melandri (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) BMW S1000 RR 19'28.291
10. Leandro Mercado (Team Pedercini) Kawasaki ZX-10R 19'47.242
11. Maxime Berger (Team Effenbert Liberty Racing) Ducati 1098R 19'50.155
12. Hiroshi Aoyama (Honda World Superbike Team) Honda CBR1000RR 19'52.383
13. David Salom (Team Pedercini) Kawasaki ZX-10R 20'05.414
14. Lorenzo Zanetti (PATA Racing Team) Ducati 1098R 19'33.081
15. Mark Aitchison (Grillini Progea Superbike Team) BMW S1000 RR 19'45.779

RT. Ayrton Badovini (BMW Motorrad Italia GoldBet) BMW S1000 RR 12'40.295
RT. Chaz Davies (ParkinGO MTC Racing) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 6'43.300
RT. Leon Haslam (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) BMW S1000 RR 4'16.738
RT. John Hopkins (Crescent Fixi Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 2'26.685
RT. Leon Camier (Crescent Fixi Suzuki) Suzuki GSX-R1000 
RT. Jonathan Rea (Honda World Superbike Team) Honda CBR1000RR

World Superbike Standings after Round 3