Phillip Island WSB: Haslam dominates opening Free Practice

Alstare Suzuki man Leon Haslam completely dominated the opening free practice session at a scorching Phillip Island circuit today. The 26 year old was the only man to lap in the 1m 32s bracket, but it wasn’t just a single lap, Haslam logged six laps which would have all been fast enough to top the timesheets.

Speaking to MCN, Haslam said: “The track temperature was up and as a result the track was really greasy and I had both Xaus and Fabrizio crash right in front of me. I tried two of the potential race tyres and on one I set a 1m 32s on my tenth lap.”

Haslam put his impressive pace down to his structured approach to last weeks test at the Australian circuit where he concentrated on establishing a good race set-up.

“I spent two days working with the race tyres and never used a soft tyre just to set a time. My tyre life today still dropped off, but I think everybody’s did and there was a lot of sliding and spinning going on out there. Even though I’ve been fast I’m under no illusion that the other teams will get there by Sunday. Right now we’ve got a good set-up for the hot or cooler conditions and I can be consistent which will be the important thing.”

Max Biaggi claimed second spot and was both fast and consistent onboard his Alitalia Aprilia. Briton Shane Byrne continued his impressive testing pace and overcame a technical problem on his number one bike to log the third fastest time ahead of Jonathan Rea and Carlos Checa.

1 91 L. HASLAM GBR Team Suzuki Alstare Suzuki GSX-R1000 1’32.468 25
2 3 M. BIAGGI ITA Aprilia Alitalia Racing Aprilia RSV4 1000 F. 1’33.008
3 67 S. BYRNE GBR Althea Racing Ducati 1098R 1’33.121
4 65 J. REA GBR HANNspree Ten Kate Honda Honda CBR1000RR 1’33.149
5 7 C. CHECA ESP Althea Racing Ducati 1098R 1’33.218
6 35 C. CRUTCHLOW GBR Yamaha Sterilgarda Team Yamaha YZF R1 1’33.239
7 41 N. HAGA JPN Ducati Xerox Team Ducati 1098R 1’33.259
8 52 J. TOSELAND GBR Yamaha Sterilgarda Team Yamaha YZF R1 1’33.264
9 96 J. SMRZ CZE Team PATA B&G Racing Ducati 1098R 1’33.360
10 50 S. GUINTOLI FRA Team Suzuki Alstare Suzuki GSX-R1000 1’33.363
11 84 M. FABRIZIO ITA Ducati Xerox Team Ducati 1098R 1’33.413
12 57 L. LANZI ITA DFX Corse Ducati 1098R 1’33.449
13 111 R. XAUS ESP BMW Motorrad Motorsport BMW S1000 RR 1’33.692
14 77 C. VERMEULEN AUS Kawasaki Racing Team Kawasaki ZX 10R 1’33.775
15 2 L. CAMIER GBR Aprilia Alitalia Racing Aprilia RSV4 1000 F. 1’33.804
16 66 T. SYKES GBR Kawasaki Racing Team Kawasaki ZX 10R 1’33.924
17 11 T. CORSER AUS BMW Motorrad Motorsport BMW S1000 RR 1’34.008
18 76 M. NEUKIRCHNER GER HANNspree Ten Kate Honda Honda CBR1000RR 1’34.121
19 88 A. PITT AUS Team Reitwagen BMW BMW S1000 RR 1’34.433
20 25 J. BROOKES AUS ECHO CRS Honda Honda CBR1000RR 1’34.440
21 123 R. RESCH AUT Team Reitwagen BMW BMW S1000 RR 1’34.914
22 31 V. IANNUZZO ITA S.C.I. Honda Garvie Image Honda CBR1000RR 1’35.844
23 15 M. BAIOCCO ITA Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX 10R 1’36.084
24 95 R. HAYDEN USA Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX 10R 1’36.287