Philip Island - Haslam ends 5 year win drought

Britain’s Leon Haslam ended a five-year win drought in the second World Superbike race at Phillip Island, nicking the victory from under Jonathan Rea’s nose on the run to the line and taking the chequered flag by 0.01s for the first time since Kyalami in 2010 when he eventually finished second in the title chase.

Haslam, who went into the weekend confident of a result after outstanding pre-season testing, took second behind Rea in race one by just 0.039s even after running off track on the exit of Stoner corner and then went one better in race two. The pair now jointly-lead the points table on 45 each.

“Yeah I am really happy with the way we operated this weekend and with the team. In race one I made a small mistake which cost me the win but I felt I had a lot in reserve to go faster and the tyre was feeling really good,” said Haslam.

In race two van der Mark had really good pace but he was running too fast and I felt that by running at that pace the tyres might have had worn a bit more. Then, when I made my move I didn’t feel I had the same reserve as the first race. I then made another small mistake and I went from first to third. I had to push very hard in the last two laps and it made it very difficult for me again.

“In the end we managed to get the win so that’s perfect. I definitely got my run to the line better but I made another mistake with a missed gear, which I had twice that race and I had some more chatter.”