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STIGGY HONDA: Haslam best Honda in Valencia race

April 06 2009

 
World Superbike Championship
Stiggy Racing Honda
Round 3 Valencia
Sunday April 5th
Race 1 + 2

Leon Haslam continued his strong performance today as he managed to take a top 5 result home in both Superbike races at the Ricardo Tormo circuit in Valencia today.

Haslam once again showed the potential of his Stiggy Racing Honda Superbike and finished in fifth place twice over, ahead of the other Honda's on the grid. After an imperfect start in race two, where he lost one place coming through the first lap from his tenth place on the grid, he regained the lost ground with the determination and grit he has shown in the previous races in Qatar. With an incredible pace in both races he passed the checkered flag in fifth position twice over.

John Hopkins made his debut to the series for the Stiggy Racing Honda team this weekend. Despite having to learn every aspect of his new bike and living up to the expectations, the new arrival made his progression step by step as he and his crew worked towards his first Superbike race.

Hopkins showed he is as fast off the grid on his new Superbike as he was in MotoGP and came through the first lap of race 2 in seventh position from his sixteenth place on the grid. He lost ground in the first laps after Honda riders Checa and Rea passed him, but regained one place after Kagayama crashed out in front of him. He stayed put in eight position but was unable to close the gap with the riders in front of him. With Biaggi and Sykes on his tail, he was forced to step back due to an unexpected technical problem with his fuel system and finished the race in twelfth position.

After the third round in the Championship Leon Haslam claims a fifth place in the standings and remains the fastest Honda in the Championship, while new arrival John Hopkins holds an eighteenth position after his first appearance in the series.

Leon Haslam, R1 - 5th, R2 - 5th;
"Am happy with my top 5 results today. I didn't really have the best of starts in the second race and had to pass all the other Honda's and by the time I caught Neukirchner and passed him for fifth the leading group was already gone. Once again my pace was quick enough to run with the front group if I had the start that I wanted. We made some good progress and got the most out of what we had for this weekend. We'll concentrate on doing some more development on the bike for the next race. We have to solve the chatter issues and a few other little things, but each time out the bike is getting stronger and I am really looking forward to riding the next race in Assen."

John Hopkins, R1 - 11th- , R2 - 12th;
"It definitely was a challenging first round after not riding a bike and dragging a knee since November and then moving straight in and doing two races on one day was a great experience. I want to say thanks to Stiggy for giving me this ride. We experienced a technical problem with our fuel consumption but it is something we need to improve. My start was really good, getting aggressive on my first start and come through in sixth on the first lap was good, but then I lost some ground. Leon pulled away from me and from there it was just a lonely race. With three laps to go I experienced the fuel problems and the riders all came passed me. This weekend was supposed to be a learning curve and I proved that I can do the lap times. We'll have to work on the setup and get it working right. Leon is definitely setting the standards right now and I will have to try and chase him down."

Johan Stigefelt, Team Manager;
"I can only say that I am really happy with the results this weekend. We have John riding for us here for the first time and unfortunately encountered some technical problems we didn't think we would have. We managed to nearly solve them over the weekend but then John had a few problem in the second race so we still need to do some further development on the system. Leon's performance was fantastic, to finish 5th in both races is a very good result and again shows us the potential of him, the bike and the team. He also experienced a fuel problem but managed to keep his position. John needed these two races to get used to his bike and settle into the team. He will now have some homework to do and prepare himself for the next round, but he is learning with every outing and I am sure he will be up there with the boys soon. It will be a tough ten days for all of us preparing for the Assen round, but we are all fired after this weekend. We are fifth in the Championship at the moment and the best Honda team, so I am more then satisfied."

Results Race 1:
1. N. Haga
2. M. Fabrizio
3. M. Neukirchner
4. R.Laconi
5. L. Haslam
11. J.Hopkins

Results Race 2;
1. N. Haga
2. B. Spies
3. M. Fabrizio
4. R.Laconi
5. L. Haslam
12. J.Hopkins

Stiggy Honda is sponsored by Hotbodies Racing and uses our windscreens on all of their bikes. Hotbodies Racing specializes in manufacturing high-performance parts for high-performance sportbikes, and is the North American distribution of KR Tuned performance parts. Hotbodies Racing is the market leader in Undertails, Huggers, Windscreens, Flush-Mount Signals, Megaphone Exhausts and full-race Bodywork. Hotbodies Racing supports the sport with sponsorship around the world and encourages dealer and distributor inquiries. For more information visit: www.HOTBODIESRACING.com.