JG Speedfit Kawasaki's Leon Haslam was able to maintain his lead at the top of the overall MCE British Superbike championship standings, after coming away from the Brands Hatch Indy circuit with a second and third place finishes, but the rider was 'frustrated' with bike issues and felt that he struggled in both races.
His team made a few changes, but didn't go in the right direction, and Haslam felt that he didn't maybe have as much grip as his team-mate, Luke Mossey or even title rival, Be Wiser Ducati's Shane Byrne on track in race two. The Smalley native opted for the harder SC2 front Pirelli tyre and the SC1 rear during both races - as did his team-mate Mossey.
Yesterday during qualifying Haslam was blighted by vibration on his ZX-10RR, and today he still had some problems with his bike. But even with the issues he was still able to make it on to the podium twice and he is pleased that he was able to nab some podium credits.
"Honestly I was struggling from lap one again, we made a few changes and I don't really think we went the right way," said Haslam at the circuit.
"I felt pretty comfortable early on but Luke had just a bit more grip than me especially at the last turn and pretty much after that he was slowly pulling away from me.
"It looked like Shakey had a lot more grip than me but he was struggling with the front end and ran in and went down in front of me. Happy I got on the podium again but kind of frustrated that we didn't resolve the issues."
After race one Haslam added: "I was struggling to pass and I struggled to get past Christian and was running out a laps. We were just lacking in a couple of areas on the track - with there being only five corners. There was not a plan for the last lap, we managed to make the pass stick.
"It is difficult to pass, I am pretty strong in some areas but I did not get the opportunity to pass in those areas because I was really weak on the corner before. It was a bit of a
yo-yo effect between me and Christian and both James and Luke had a strong rhythm. I wanted to be in the mix with them as I knew they had a strong pace. Overall P2 at Brands Indy I am actually really happy."
