HM Plant star takes his first pole of the season at a rain-soaked Knockhill circuit
LEON HASLAM put his HM Plant Honda Fireblade on pole for tomorrow’s Bennetts British Superbike races at Knockhill. The 25-year-old from Derbyshire battled the wet conditions to put himself in the driving seat for Sunday’s two 30-lap races around the 1.27-mile circuit, near Fife. His team-mate Cal Crutchlow isn’t far behind. He will start the races from fifth on the grid.
Both HM Plant team members carry the number 18 on their fairings in memory of fellow Honda rider Craig Jones who died last Monday following an accident at the Brands Hatch World Supersport round. Haslam said:
“The conditions were not what you want to be riding around in really, but I’m so pleased to get my first pole of the season for HM Plant Honda. We’ve been working away all season so this goes some way to paying us all back for that effort. Pole is just the start, the races are tomorrow and they are the most important part of the weekend where we can take some big points out of the people ahead in the championship. Obviously I want to get a double win – that’s the plan for tomorrow. We will see what happens.”
BSB Knockhill Qualifying:
1: Leon Haslam (Honda) 52:692
2: Michael Rutter (Ducati) +0.274
3: Shane Byrne (Ducati) +0.282
4: Michael Laverty (Suzuki) +0.311
5: Cal Crutchlow (Honda) +0.485
6: Leon Camier (Ducati) +0.576
7: Tom Sykes (Suzuki) +0.603
8: James Ellison (Honda) +0.895
9: Karl Harris (Yamaha) +1.076
10: Tristan Palmer (Honda) +1.184
