Leon Haslam is ready to take the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship title fight down to the wire at Brands Hatch in two weeks’ time after the JG Speedfit Kawasaki rider scored a double victory at Assen to move to within 17 points of Shane 'Shakey' Byrne.
Haslam had narrowly beaten Byrne to the line in the opening race and was determined to keep his arch rival in his wheel tracks again in the second race. At the start pole-sitter Jason O'Halloran fired the Honda Fireblade to the front of the field from Dan Linfoot, James Ellison and Haslam.
Meanwhile championship leader Byrne was languishing outside the top ten in twelfth place after a bad start off the second row.
Ellison was instantly attacking hard and he moved up into second to split the Honda Racing team-mates. Haslam was ready to follow Ellison up the order and a lap later he also moved ahead of Linfoot as O’Halloran was forced to surrender the lead to Ellison.
Ellison’s lead was short lived as Haslam dived ahead a lap later, only for Ellison to retaliate with a move which put him back at the front of the field. A few corners later though and the JG Speedfit Kawasaki paint-swapping continued as Ellison regained control.
Honda Racing’s O'Halloran then moved back into second on the fifth lap, with Haslam holding the lead ahead of the Australian and a chasing pack of Ellison, Linfoot, Luke Mossey and Richard Cooper.
By lap six Byrne was up to seventh and desperately trying to fight his way through the pack to regain the positions, but at the front O’Halloran retook the lead only for Haslam to instantly fire a counter attack just a few corners later but across the line the Honda Racing Fireblade was narrowly ahead.
O’Halloran was clinging onto the lead before Haslam once again hit the front with Ellison then also pushing him back a further place into third as Byrne surged up the pack to be fourth by the 14th lap.
The leading quartet was Haslam, Ellison, O’Halloran and Byrne with Linfoot, Mossey and Cooper pushing for any opportunity to make a move. O’Halloran was able to make another pass on lap 15 to split the JG Speedfit Kawasakis.
Ellison was then dropping down the order but at the front Haslam was holding off O’Halloran and an incoming Byrne who had clawed his way into contention for a podium finish and moved into third with two laps remaining.
On the penultimate lap Byrne was up to second and the last two laps came down to a fight between the pair, but the ‘Pocket Rocket’ had the edge at the finish despite the best efforts of his Be Wiser Ducati rival with O’Halloran completing the podium trio.
Linfoot held fourth place ahead of Mossey and Michael Laverty who pushed Ellison back into seventh.
MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship, Assen, race two result:
Leon Haslam (JG Speedfit Kawasaki)Shane Byrne (Be Wiser Ducati) +0.270sJason O'Halloran (Honda Racing) +1.447sDan Linfoot (Honda Racing) +3.796sLuke Mossey (Quattro Plant Teccare Kawasaki) +3.831sMichael Laverty (Tyco BMW) +3.898sJames Ellison (JG Speedfit Kawasaki) +3.950sChristian Iddon (Tyco BMW) +4.067sBroc Parkes (ePayMe Yamaha) +5.324sRichard Cooper (Buildbase BMW) +5.604sMCE Insurance British Superbike Championship standings after Assen:
Shane Byrne (Be Wiser Ducati) 633Leon Haslam (JG Speedfit Kawasaki) 616Dan Linfoot (Honda Racing) 566James Ellison (JG Speedfit Kawasaki) 560Jason O'Halloran (Honda Racing) 556Luke Mossey (Quattro Plant Teccare Kawasaki) 534
The next round of the MCE British Superbike Championship will be the title decider on the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit on 14/15/16 October. For more information and to book for the triple-header event visit www.brandshatch.co.uk
