Pata Honda rider Leon Haslam will start tomorrow’s two fifth-round World Superbike championship races at Donington Park in the UK from the front row of the grid after setting the second-fastest time in today’s Superpole. The 30-year-old, who lives just half-an-hour’s drive from the 4.023km circuit set a time of 1m45.009s, just 0.1s from pole-setter Davide Giugliano, after heavy and persistent rain had left Donington wet and slippery.

Haslam’s Pata Honda team-mate Jonathan Rea crashed out in the wet conditions at Donington’s Melbourne hairpin after looking comfortable for a front row start for tomorrow’s two 23-lap races.
The 27-year-old from Northern Ireland had been in a provisional front row slot and was on target to set the fastest time before sliding off with just three minutes of the session remaining.

Leon Haslam: “Since breaking my leg last year we haven’t had the best of times, or been where we want to be in terms of results, so for me it’s good to get my season started on the front row here at Donington. We’ve still got a little bit more work to do for the dry set-up but I had a good feeling with the bike in the rain at Assen and we’ve made a lot of steps over the winter. Fingers crossed I can get the start that’s needed and we can be in there with the front guys tomorrow.”

Jonathan Rea:  “It was a tough Superpole for me to finish up eighth, and I don’t think we’ve started from the third row this season. So a really good couple of starts have to be on the menu tomorrow for me to get away with the front guys. I made a really costly mistake in the latter stages in a pivotal moment in the session, just when everybody was starting to go really fast. I was feeling really comfortable and setting a really good pace. I’m quite happy with our bike in the rain conditions like we had but with the weekend schedule we’ve really struggled with dry time. With three dry sessions on the bounce we weren’t able to spend the evening analysing data from the day to come back strong. I think we’re a little under prepared for the race tomorrow but I have confidence that my guys will give me a C BR to battle at the front tomorrow, regardless of the conditions.”