Haslam aiming to grab early BSB advantage at Silverstone

JG Speedfit Kawasaki’s Leon Haslam is aiming to take an early advantage at this weekend’s Silverstone MCE British Superbike opener while some his rivals are still nailing down their final base settings and polishing electronics strategies.

Haslam, who comes back to BSB after eight years in WSBK, had had five successful tests with the factory-supported Kawasaki team since January so expects to hit the ground running with this year’s 2016 ZX-10R but knows he will have some stiff opposition.

“For me it’s exciting. It’s a new championship really as I haven’t been in it for eight years and everything has changed. The bike and the team is all there to go out and win. Every other year we have had hurdles and things you have had to overcome,” Haslam told Bikesport News.

“No matter how well I was riding, a lot of the time I knew it was going to be tough to win a championship and for me this is the first time that if I do my job right and maximise the opportunities with the team I have got, we should be winning.

“A couple of the teams are on the back foot a little bit. Yamaha have new bikes, new riders, new electronics but you can’t count either Hopper or Stuart out, they’re both fast guys. Shane has still got work to do I think with the Motec ECU on the Ducati. They are the teams that will get it sorted and be a threat, so we can’t stand still.”