Portimao WSBK: Podium for dizzy, in-pain Haslam

Red Devils Aprilia’s Leon Haslam fought through pain and dizziness at Portimao to bag his first World Superbike podium since Thailand in the second race today.

The gritty Derbyshireman was already suffering with the ribs he cracked at Imola and a third-gear crash in the rain during race one aggravated the injury. Haslam took a maximum dose of painkillers ahead of race two which left him a little dizzy which took some time to clear and he stormed through for third place.

“Leading up to the race, my ribs have been more comfortable. On Friday I tried without any painkillers and it was sore. I went back to the painkillers I had at Donington on Saturday and it was fine. I felt good in race one but I think the crash has aggravated it, maybe re-cracked something. I was very cautious in the early laps but we have a couple more weeks now,” said Haslam, speaking at Portimao.

“I think I may have taken too much. I had some before warm-up, not too many before race one as I felt good but then I had the maximum before race two and I don’t know if it was a top-up or something.

“I hit a few neutrals and made a few mistakes in the opening laps but after that got into a rhythm. I don’t think my ribs affected how I was riding but it is really sore,” said Haslam speaking at Portimao.

“The team did a a great job, we lost a session on Friday and have been playing catch-up ever since. It was a lot better but a very tough weekend.

“Finishing fourth is like fastest loser, stepping on to that podium, even in third, is a good feeling. The worst thing is the pace isn’t that far away but they are just putting a better race together.”

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