Leon Haslam is not feeling the pressure ahead of his WorldSBK wildcard ride at his home round at Donington Park.
The MCE British Superbike title challenger will jump onboard the Puccetti Kawasaki ZX-10RR for a shot at podium success this weekend and Smalley-based rider may have changed from one Kawasaki to another for this weekend but the bikes are very different, and Haslam is getting used to riding with full electronics again.
The racer enjoyed a successful test at Portimao and impressed team boss Manuel Puccetti, and if all goes well he has not ruled out doing more wildcard rides throughout the season.
“Nothing like riding at your home round and for me there’s a no pressure race but there are a few things for me to get used to with the full electronics and different tyres but super excited and JG Speedfit are backing me and can’t wait,” said Haslam, speaking to bikesportnews.com at the Sports Bar and Grill in London.
“We were only a few tenths off the fastest times at Portimao it's and super exciting to ride a bike with full electronics again – the team worked really well and it is looking quite promising. We will definitely be trying and we have to wait and see, and get somewhere near the podium. For me I didn’t leave the World Championship because I wasn’t fast enough its all bout being competitive and the overall package. We will see what things the weekend brings.
“For me Puccetti is a fantastic team to ride for and they are unbeaten in World Supersport. Randy is new to the championship it is unsure where the level of the bike and him are at right now and hopefully we can work together to make the bike and team the best that we can.
“The bikes are very different and chassis wise you have to set it up quite differently and ride it differently because of mainly the electronics and it is a good indication of how I want my BSB bike to feel without the electronics.”
Haslam is one busy rider, not only is he completing a wildcard ride on the world stage, but he is also competing in the Suzuka Eight-Hours, as well as his BSB duties with the JG Speedfit Kawasaki team.
Haslam added: “They have a new Japanese rider Kazuma Watanabe he finished third in the last Japanese championship race so hopefully we will have a competitive team and finished second last year and will be nice to go one better. We have a few tests lined up in July and fingers crossed we can have another good Suzuka 8-hour.
“There are a few rounds that don’t clash (with WSBK), after my BSB season is done we have still got Jerez and Doha and they will be nice to finish the season off, but we will see what we can do and take each race at a time.”
