Haslam returns to podium despite set-up struggles

Leon Haslam has returned to the MCE British Superbike championship podium for the first time since winning race one of the Oulton Park round despite being hampered by set-up issues on his JG Speedfit Kawasaki.

The former BSB championship leader battled his way to third place in the tricky Brands Hatch GP opener which was cut short by an early red flag with rain circling the circuit, but after making set-up changes between the two races Haslam felt he lost some performance form his ZX-10RR which forced him to settle for fifth place.

Despite his mixed results, Haslam was pleased to return to the podium in BSB for the first time since the third round as he hunts a comfortable setting for the Kawasaki.

"It's been a tough round as it's the first weekend back really from Oulton Park in May," Haslam said. "We made some good progress but always felt on the back foot. The podium in race one was better than expected considering the issues I had, but I felt the changes in race two weren't the right way to go and I had to settle for fifth."

Having missed the Knockhill round through injury while also losing vital testing time due to technical issues with his Kawasaki at both Snetterton and Cadwell Park, Haslam is keen to push on ahead of the Showdown in order to reel in new BSB championship leader Shane Byrne who he trails by 10 Podium Points.

"We finally got to test some different chassis set-ups, tyre life in the SC0 was better and we were the top Kawasakis in both races," he said. "I'm racing at the Suzuka 8 Hours this weekend which is important but I'm also looking forward to going testing when I return to get everything ready ahead of the next BSB round. I'm confident we will get back to winning ways soon."