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Stiggy Racing Honda>> Haslam charges hard but ends final round without points

October 30 2009

Leon Haslam took a impressive sixth place finish in the 2009 World Superbike Championships with his rookie Stiggy Racing Honda team.
 
The British rider has successfully taken not less then 11 top five finishes this year, including four podium places and because of these results he has become the best Superbike privateer rider. The 2009 season started with a podium finish for the team but unfortunately it didn't end as well as it started at the ultimate round in Portimao today.

Leon suffered a crash in the ultimate minutes of today's warm-up session, leaving an open gash to his left elbow that had to be fixed up with number of stitches to close the wound. Despite his injury Leon charged hard in today's two races. Starting from a second row on the grid Leon was up to a fifth place in the first couple of laps. But the Brit suffered front-end problems right from the start of the race and while in sixth place, half way through the race, Leon lost grip and crashed out. Luckily, no further injuries was sustained. Going out for the second 22-lap race, Leon decided to race on his number two bike as his number one bike had been damaged in the crash. But again small issues with his machine occurred and only seven laps into the race Leon was forced to retire due to technical problems.

Leon Haslam - Race 1-DNF, Race 2-DNF:
"In race one we had a few issues with the setup using a too hard front tyre. I ended up crashing because I was touching the shifter which was too bad as it would have been an easy top five finish otherwise. In race two we got the settings loads better and I just got past Spies and was in a big group of riders, up to the front runners. This was not the best of weekends but it has been a fantastic year so we just have to forget about today with the injuries and the crashes. It's been an awesome year and now I'm looking forward to the future."

Johan Stigefelt - Team Manager:
-" We didn't have a good day today, we wanted to finish off the season on a high, especially as we started it off so well. But we have to remember that we were new to this class and that we still managed a sixth place championship finish, as the best privateer and among that several podiums, so we have to be happy with that. If we didn't have the problems we had with the settings and bike today, we would have been up there in the top for sure. It has been a long and very hard season for us and everyone in the team has deserved a good finish to the end of the season. I would like to take the opportunity to thank all the guys in the team for their great and hard work and big thanks to Leon for his excellent performances. We wish him all the best for the future."
 
Results Race 1
1. B. Spies
2. J. Rea
3. M. Biaggi
DNF- Leon Haslam, Stiggy Racing Honda

Results Race 2
1. M. Fabrizio
2. N. Haga
3. J. Rea
DNF -Leon Haslam, Stiggy Racing Honda

2009 Championship Results
1. B.Spies
2. N.Haga
3. M. Fabrizio
4. M. Biaggi
5. J. Rea
6. Leon Haslam, Stiggy Racing Honda
 

Stiggy Racing 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.