Haslam's season so far

Article from http://www.worldsbk.com/en/news/5-news/7236-haslams-season-so-far.html

Three races into the season Leon Haslam (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) sits fifth in the championship standings, only 21 points from second place rider Max Biaggi. Already on the podium in the first race at Phillip Island, Haslam has a sequence of finishes which read third, fifth, fourth, fourth, 12th and fifth - a degree of consistency which is the envy of some other potential top runners.

Having swapped from Suzuki last year, Leon has taken much valuable current knowledge of the ways of a modern day four-cylinder racebike to BMW with him, and he is now busy working with the manufacturer to capture that elusive first race win for the S1000RR WSBK machine.

How has the early season been so far for you, compared to the way you expected it to?

"It has been tougher, especially after last year, always being on podiums and battling with the guys up front relatively easily. For this year we have a bit of work and development to do with the bike and the team. From that side of the things it is quite exciting, but obviously hard work at the minute, trying to grind out results and trying to make it the best situation we can."

BMW are obviously a massive company, and you have had lots of testing, but you still seem to be fighting against some problems? What is the reason?

"It is always a combination of things with racing. It's really fine-tuning what we have got and we can produce a fast lap because we have been qualifying second and third and fourth and so on. We can do one fast lap, but for all race distance it is another thing. It is sensitive to temperature changes and grip levels, and if things change our bike seems to get affected quite a lot. That is the biggest thing that we are trying to manage more than anything."

The electronics on the racebike are all done by BMW, so are they going in the right development direction with that side of things?

"The electronics system we use is BMW's own and the system itself does absolutely anything and everything that you want. It is probably more advanced than any system I have ever used before but it is what you put inside the system that obviously makes the difference. That is what we are playing around with as well as the fact that the chassis changes the electronics and different engine characteristics change the electronics. The all-round package is to get the right electronics/engine/chassis to work together not against each other. The team has only been racing two years so what they are doing is quite unbelievable but at the same time it is taking time, which any new development does."

Next up for Haslam is the Monza race, where the expected high top speed of the Aprilia and Yamaha machines may be his most immediate obstacle to lifting his first win in BMW colours.