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Stiggy Racing honda>> Haslam takes second in first day of Donington qualifying

June 26 2009

Superbike World Championship
Stiggy Racing Honda
Round 09, Donington
Friday, June 26th
Superbike QP1

In the first day of qualifying at Donington, the Stiggy Racing Honda pairing of Leon Haslam and John Hopkins opened the Superbike free practice in a great way, by setting the third and seventh fastest time respectively.

Leon Haslam was found in the top regions of the sheets throughout the session and closed the first practice in a third fastest time of 1'31.209s. John Hopkins made his re-appearance with the team after sitting out the last race at Misano and set the seventh fastest time of the free practice session in 1'31.894s.

Haslam and Hopkins both managed to keep their lap times fast and consistent in the afternoon's first qualifying practice. Haslam squeezed out the day's second fastest time of 131.191s in the last minutes of the session and finds himself just 0.4s off the pace set by provisional pole sitter Michel Fabrizio, while Hopkins is found in 14th position with a best time of 1'32.007s.

Leon Haslam, 1'31.191s:
“ I am pretty happy with my qualifying results today. It started off wet which was good to get a couple of wet laps in. It wasn't a full wet session so we didn't quite get the wet set-up sorted yet, but the dry set-up is good. We were doing well on an old tyre and able to go into the top three. Then we put a new tyre in towards the end and put the bike at second position. I am feeling really confident with what we have achieved so far. We still have a bit more to go and we'll have to concentrate on doing some race runs tomorrow."

John Hopkins, 1'32.007s:
“This morning it was all about losing up my hip and getting a good feeling with the bike again. I really enjoy riding the Donington track. The most important thing for me today was getting the feeling with the tyres and the bike again. I took it easy in the wet, but the lap times were still pretty good and pretty consistent. As soon as the track dried out, I stayed out and did over half a race distance. My last lap was my fastest lap, but I got hold up by Rea, otherwise I would have been even faster. But we are in the top 20 today and that's the most important thing. We know that we can run a consistent pace on used tyres, that is one step forward for us. We'll just have to see what the weather holds tomorrow.

Johan Stigefelt, Team Manager:
"It was a very good day here. Leon has gone as fast as we expected. He has found his way quickly and is not far off his ideal race setting. We still have a few things to improve and to test, but I am confident we can work on that tomorrow. I am very pleased with John's results. He has shown he is capable of being up there and is felling much better. The whole team is happy with this, John can finally show what he is capable of and push himself forward. We still have some things we will have to work on tomorrow, but right now it looks quite promising."

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.