Oulton BSB: Haslam wins tight opening race in mixed conditions

JG Speedfit Kawasaki’s Leon Haslam bagged his first MCE British Superbike race victory of the season after holding off challenges from Tyco BMW’s Christian Iddon, to cross a very damp finishing line at Oulton Park as the race-one winner.

In the end there was only 0.1 seconds separating the duelling pair in what was an exciting start to the double-header. It was not one, but two JG Speedfit ZX-10R’s on the podium, as James Ellison completed the top three and fended off attacks from Jason O’Halloran who had to settle for fourth.

It could have been a different story, as two laps before the end it was Honda Racing’s Dan Linfoot who pulled his Fireblade into the lead but he crashed at Hizzy’s, luckily unhurt but it could have been a podium for the Northerner.

RAF BMW’s Alastair Seeley crossed the line in P5, with Tyco BMW’s Michael Laverty fighting back from a poor start to finish inside the top six. But the Wales-based rider will start on pole in race-two after setting the fastest time.

Team WD-40’s Jack Kennedy, finished just ahead of Be Wiser Ducati’s Shane Byrne in seventh. It was an historic 300th BSB race start for Byrne who had to start from the sixth row of the grid. Cooper, McConnell, Hopkins, Hickman, Irwin, Jackson and Bridewell were the last of the points finishers.

Initially it was pole-setter Haslam who got the hole-shot, but that only lasted half a lap as Ellison got in to the lead followed by O’Halloran and Linfoot, as Haslam slipped to fifth. But the former World Superbike rider was not down and out and made a pass on Kennedy to go up to fourth on the penultimate corner. But it was not a good lap for Bennetts Suzuki’s Ryuichi Kiyonari as he experienced a technical issue and swiftly retired to the pits.

Haslam ploughed ahead and got the better of Linfoot at Druids, only for the Honda rider to fight back. But then Haslam went back into third at Lodge on lap seven of eighteen, and then made his mark on the other Fireblade of O’Halloran to go second.

All rider’s were on full wets due to the earlier heavy rain shower moments before the first BSB race, but a dry line did start to appear, and Iddon appeared to excel in the mixed conditions and was up to fourth after passing O’Halloran on lap twelve.

With six rotations remaining the leading trio of Ellison, Haslam and Linfoot had a slight advantage over the rest of the pack and Haslam made a move that stuck at Old Hall to go back into the lead. As Linfoot was riding high at the front he high-sided unhurt at Hizzy’s and crashed out of contention for a race win, making the way for Haslam to go into the lead once again, with two laps remaining.

While all the drama was going on at the front Iddon went passed Ellison at Old Hall to go into second with Ellison pushed back to third. On the penultimate lap a battle ensued between the Tyco BMW and JG Speedfit bike, with the Kawasaki getting the edge by 0.1 seconds for Haslam to take the win. There were a few fallers out on track, including Smiths Racing BMW’s Howie Mainwaring who crashed unhurt at Hizzy’s.