Superbike

The title might already have been decided but Suzuki Alstare riders Leon Haslam and Sylvain Guintoli gave everything they had at Magny-Cours today and acquitted themselves very well. Leon fought his way to runner-up spot in the first race after a battling up from seventh on lap 1.

Team Suzuki Alstare rider Sylvain Guintoli missed out on a fairy tale ‘home’ Superpole victory by the narrowest of margins at Magny-Cours today. The Frenchman was battling it out with Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha) and Jakub Smrz (Aprilia) in final Superpole, but lost out to Crutchlow by just 69/1000 of a second in the one of the most dramatic sessions of the season.

Team Suzuki Alstare riders Leon Haslam and Sylvain Guintoli know that there’s more to be done after they ended the first day of qualifying at Magny-Cours with the 10th and 14th quickest lap times. Leon’s tenth place was just over three tenths of a second off pole and Sylvain is half a second adrift on a day that saw the top sixteen riders separated by lees than a second.

Team Alstare hereby would like to inform the international media that Leon Haslam has been released from his
two-year contract with the team.

For the past six weeks Team Alstare has been waiting for an answer from its principal partner regarding the team's future..

The second race of this year’s Superbike World Championship saw the end of Suzuki Alstare rider Leon Haslam’s hopes of taking the title fight to the last round in Magny-Cours next weekend.
Leon started race two in second place, behind fellow countryman Tom Sykes (Kawasaki) and was battling with the lead group after seven laps, but then went in a bit too hot at the final chicane and had to go across the gravel trap. He rejoined the track in sixth place and was fighting his way up again, when suddenly the rear of his bike was enveloped in a cloud of smoke. As soon as it happened, Leon knew his race was over and also his hopes of taking the title fight to the last round next weekend. It was the first time a Suzuki Alstare engine had blown up in seven years and a shame that it happened today!

Team Suzuki Alstare rider Leon Haslam fought treacherous conditions at Imola today and took a tremendous third place in final Superpole. Superpole 1 and 2 were completely wet. All riders struggled on the slippery surface and there were many crashes, though fortunately there were no injuries.

Team Suzuki Alstare rider Leon Haslam once again defied the pain barrier on his way to posting the third quickest time on the opening day’s qualifying at Imola. Visibly in discomfort throughout the day, Leon somehow managed to put aside the pain in his left knee and hustled his way round the 4.936 kilometre circuit, and recorded a lap of 1:48.621, just behind Carlos Checa (Ducati) and Jonathan Rea (Honda).

With just two rounds of this year’s Superbike World Championship remaining, Team Suzuki Alstare riders Leon Haslam and Sylvain Guintoli will be going all out for podiums this coming weekend in Imola. Changes to the track were made before last year’s race and many riders do not like the final chicane, but at least most have had a chance to test there earlier this year and get more used to it. So for once, Sylvain will not have to start the race weekend learning the track.

Team Suzuki Alstare rider Leon Haslam defied the pain barrier in today’s second Superbike World Championship race at the Nurburgring, taking a superb podium despite a dislocated right thumb and damaged knee ligaments. Leon had crashed at the start of race one, when he was highsided and it was fortunate that the race was red-flagged and he and the other fallers were able to make the restart. His bike was too badly damaged to take part in the restart, so he was forced to use his spare bike - one that he had only used for a handful of laps in practice and qualifying.

Team Suzuki Alstare rider Sylvain Guintoli had his best Superpole of the season and will start tomorrow’s pair of 20-lap races from the front row of the grid. The Frenchman was in tremendous form today, particularly in Superpole 2, when he ended up the fastest. It took a record lap from Max Biaggi (Aprilia) to knock Sylvain down the order, but he held on to third quickest, just behind Carlos Checa (Ducati).

The first day of practice and qualifying at the Nurburgring today was a tough one for Team Suzuki Alstare riders Leon Haslam and Sylvain Guintoli. The tyres brought here for this event were the same type as the new ones that Leon, Sylvain and the team found hard to work with in Misano and Brno and so a lot more work on bike set-up has to be done before they can push as hard as they want.

Team Suzuki Alstare rider Leon Haslam endured two tough 18-lap races at Silverstone today, taking a superb third 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.