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Leon Haslam takes second place in race one,
Sylvain Guintoli records since round one best performance at
Superbike World Championship in the USA
Salt Lake City, USA:
The seventh round of the Superbike World Championship - that took place in the USA - was hold for the first time in history on a Monday instead of a Sunday and the DARK DOG riders Leon Haslam and Sylvain Guintoli from Team Suzuki Alstare did well during the race day: Although Leon could not finish race two due to an accident with his bike, he was happy to record a superb second place in race one before. His team mate Sylvain had his best race day of the season so far and battled for eighth in race one and took a superb sixth in race two.
Many times this season, the two Suzuki Alstare riders have suffered mixed fortunes on the first day of qualifying and at the Miller Motorsports Park this was no exception. Leon qualified a comfortable fourth fastest, but Sylvain struggled and ended the day of qualifying a seventeenth. It was Sylvain's first visit to the very technical Miller circuit and so he was hoping to improve his performance during Superpole.
So he did and would've probably finished on the second row of the grid, but for the smallest of mistakes in one of the timed splits, the Frenchman was determined to start from the third row of the grid. Leon was on course for a place on the front row in Superpole 3 until crashes of two riders caused the red flag to be brought out and halt the session with just a few minutes remaining. Although Superpole 3 started again, Leon had already used up his qualifiers and was unable to go any faster and so started the 21-lap races from the second row of the grid.
During the race day, Leon suffered the ups and downs of racing: he took a hard-fought runner-up spot in the first race and then had battled up to sixth place in race two after a poor start, but was unfortunately highsided from his GSX-R1000 and crashed out of the race. He got a lift back to the pits and went to the Clinica Mobile where he had seventeen stitches put into his left arm just above his elbow. Fortunately he suffered no other injuries and will be fit for the next round of the Superbike!
His team mate Sylvain Guintoli had his best race day of the year since the opening round in Australia back in February and finished race one with an eighth position and race two sixth.
Even if Leon lost the lead in the championship for the moment and stands with only 10 points behind his fierce competitor Max Biaggi, he himself, DARK DOG, and the whole Team Suzuki Alstare are convinced that he will be able to retain the lead in the championship after the upcoming race in Misano, Italy end of June!
Leon Haslam
Race 1: 2nd, Race 2: DNF
"Obviously I am very disappointed how the day ended. Crashing out is bad enough, but losing the championship lead is another. I always knew that today was going to be very hard and the races proved that. I was fortunate to get second place in race one and unfortunate to crash in race two. Carlos Checa should've won both races and I feel a bit sorry for him. He had led both, but then had to pull out. As a result, Max got lucky, but racing is like that sometimes. I didn't make particularly good starts today and maybe that caused some of the problems. In race one, I was right behind Jakub Smrz when his Ducati blew up. I and the front of my Suzuki got covered in oil and I tried to use a different line to him so that I wouldn't crash on his oil. I think I was stuck behind him for over a lap, but luckily he pulled off the track and I was able to get my head down and chase after the leaders. I moved through the field and got into third and happy with that until Carlos stopped and I was gifted second. I was tenth
at the end of the first lap in race two and once again I had a lot of work to do to catch the leaders. I managed to get up to sixth after seven laps, but then the bike suddenly let go at one of the hairpins and I was highsided. I had a load of stitches put into my left arm, just above the elbow, but I will be OK for Misano."
Sylvain Guintoli
Race 1: 8th, Race 2: 6th
"Today was a much better day for me and I am happy because I think I managed to find a good rhythm and race pace - all this on my first time at this track. I had some little clutch problems in race one and starting from way down the grid is never easy, so I don't think eighth was too bad. My pace in the second race was a lot better and I enjoyed fighting with the other riders as I moved up the field. Today was my best result since Australia and it's about time I got back to being competitive. Now I want to build on this, keep up the good work and push hard right from the first practice in the next round and so be in a better place on the grid right from the start of the race day."
Results / Race 1
1 Biaggi (ITA-Aprilia)
2 Leon Haslam (GBR-Suzuki Alstare)
3 Haga (JPN-Ducati)
4 Camier (GBR-Aprilia)
5 Corser (AUS-BMW)
6 Byrne (GBR-Ducati)...
8 Sylvain Guintoli (FRA-Suzuki Alstare)...
Results / Race 2
1 Biaggi (ITA-Aprilia)
2 Camier (GBR-Aprilia)
3 Crutchlow (GBR-Yamaha)
4 Haga (JPN-Ducati)
5 Corser (AUS-BMW)
6 Sylvain Guintoli (FRA-Suzuki Alstare)...
Leon Haslam (GBR-Suzuki Alstare) DNF...
Overall standing
1 Biaggi (ITA-Aprilia) 242
2 Leon Haslam (GBR-Suzuki Alstare) 232
3 Rea (GBR-Honda) 143
4 Checa (ESP-Ducati) 141
5 Toseland (GBR-Yamaha) 1132
6 Haga (JPN-Ducati) 122
11 Sylvain Guintoli (FRA-Suzuki Alstare) 95...
