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DARK DOG rider Leon takes a superb podium
and a fourth to close the gap on Max
Silverstone, Great Britain:
The Team Suzuki Alstare riders Leon Haslam and Sylvain Guintoli gave the thumbs up to the new Silverstone circuit after spending the first day learning the new layout of this fantastic track with bags of character, wide, bumpy, fast and flowing with lots of passing oppurtunities. Leon finished 8th fastest and was the happier of the duo, but Sylvain was very upbeat about his prospects on Saturday, despite ending the first day 17th in the standings.
In final Superpole Leon Haslam just missed out on a front row grid place when he was held up by a slower rider on his flying lap and started the pair of 18-lap races on Sunday from the second row of the grid, just behind the poleman, Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha). Leon's team mate, Sylvain Guintoli, ended with the 11th quickest lap in Superpole and started from the third row of the grid on race day.
The race Sunday ended for DARK DOG rider Leon Haslam with a superb third place in race one and a fourth in race two to close the gap on series leader Max Biaggi. But It was a day of frustration for the young Brit because he felt he could've challenged for the wins if things had gone his way a bit more and that would've narrowed the gap even more. Leon's team mate, Sylvain Guintoli, suffered with a too hard tyre in race one and ended 12th. He used a softer tyre in race two and had a much better race, finishing 7th.
DARK DOG congratulates its riders to the "home race" results and is looking forward to the next race in Nürburgring, Germany, and is going to supply its team once again with MORE ENERGY.
Leon Haslam
Race 1: 3rd, Race 2: 4th
Generally, I feel that today has been a bit frustrating because I think it could've and should've been better. When our package is perfect, I know I can challenge for wins, but when it is not, it can be a bit of a struggle and that's how it was today. I made a bad start in the first race, but managed to close the gap on the leaders and was getting ready to mount an attack on Jonathan Rea, but had gearbox problems for the last seven laps, so couldn't push harder and get closer to him. A podium is not bad though, and it was good to be up there with two other Brits.
Sylvain Guintoli
Race 1: 12th, Race 2: 7th
I am actually not sure what happened in race one, but we had tried some harder compound tyres in the morning warm-up and had really got on with them. So we used them in the first race and they behaved completely differently! I just couldn't get anywhere near the same lap times and so struggled throughout the race. It was very frustrating. Obviously we didn't want to take that risk again for race two, so we used the same tyre that everybody was using and I was much happier. I was able to get into a better rhythm, go faster and get close to my best lap times. I got pretty close to Max Biaggi and would've loved to have passed him because that would've been good for the team.
Results / Race 1
1 Cal Crutchlow (GBR-Yamaha)
2 Jonathan Rea (GBR-Honda)
3 Leon Haslam (GBR-Suzuki Alstare)
4 Michel Fabrizio (ITA-Ducati)
5 Max Biaggi (ITA-Aprilia)
6 Leon Camier (GBR-Aprilia) ...
12 Sylvain Guintoli (FRA-Suzuki Alstare) ...
Results / Race 2
1 Cal Crutchlow (GBR-Yamaha)
2 Jonathan Rea (GBR-Honda)
3 Leon Camier (GBR-Aprilia)
4 Leon Haslam (GBR-Suzuki Alstare)
5 James Toseland (GBR-Yamaha)
6 Max Biaggi (ITA-Aprilia)
7 Sylvain Guintoli (FRA-Suzuki Alstare) ...
Overall standing
1 Max Biaggi (ITA-Aprilia) 373
2 Leon Haslam (GBR-Suzuki Alstare) 313
3 Jonathan Rea (GBR-Honda) 243
4 Carlos Checa (ESP-Ducati) 204
5 Cal Crutchlow (GBR-Yamaha) 188
6 James Toseland (GBR-Yamaha) 179 ...
11 Sylvain Guintoli (FRA-Suzuki Alstare) 151 ...
