MCN’s top ten WSB riders: 7th

A remarkable season of FIM Superbike World Championship racing delivered an eclectic bunch of riders onto the podiums, from Australia to Qatar and all points in between. MCN’s entirely subjective top ten rider run-down attempts to grade the top riders from ten to one.

7^th Leon Haslam

• Championship position: 7th
• Wins: 0
• Podiums: 1

When you hear talk of Leon Haslam having lost his ability to compete with the top five in WSB, or even the top ten as some said in 2014, you have to wonder how closely some people looked at what he’s been up against.

His natural competiveness and dare I say a degree of short-sightedness meant he pushed himself back to racing in 2013 too early after his horrible leg break at Assen. It can be argued this impetuousness held back his 2014 season too, as did too many tech and set-up issues with his bike.

A great ride in the wet at Magny Cours, with pass of the year around the outside of Sykes, showed his abilities had only been masked, not cut out, despite two tough years.

A short test on the Red Devils Roma Aprilia, which will be full factory in tech terms in 2015, showed he was still fast enough. Only time will tell if he can be that over a full season but talent cannot be broken as easily as bones.