Monday June 29, 2009 at 4:48pm
The British round of the World Superbike Championship at Donington Park produced an interesting out come but the man who brought it home for the British fans was Leon Haslam.
Race one didn’t pan out very well for any of the British riders with none of them ending up on the podium. American Ben Spies on the Yamaha ran away with it, while Max Biaggi gave chase on the Aprilia for second place and Championship leader, Noriyuki Haga aboard the Xerox Ducati settled for third.
In this race Haslam on the Stiggy Honda was the first Brit home in fourth place with Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne on the Sterilgarda Ducati in fifth.
Jonathan Rea was seventh aboard his Hannspree Ten Kate Honda, and wildcard rider Leon Camier came through the pack from 21st on the opening lap to 13th while his Airwaves Yamaha team-mate James Ellison got as high as 11th before crashing out at McLeans.
Tom Sykes also crashed out of contention whilst in seventh place. He hit a bump at Goddards and lost the front.
The British riders fared better in race two and that is when Haslam stepped on the podium. Spies disappeared into the distance leaving Haslam, Byrne and Michel Fabrizio to fight it out for the remaining podiums positions. Unfortunately Byrne was the loser and finished fourth with Fabrizio taking third.
Haga crashed out in a nasty highside which has left him with a broken Ulna and just 14 points clear of Spies in the title chase.
This was a much better race for the British riders with six finishing in the top ten. Byrne was fourth, Sykes fifth, Camier sixth, James Ellison eighth and Simon Andrews tenth. This shows the calibre of British talent racing at World level.
The next round of the World Superbike Championship will take place at Brno in the Czech Republic on the 24th – 26th July.