LEON HASLAM
Haslam delivered the most heroic and gutsy performance of his career. Team Green opted to use just two riders (rather than the available three) and that meant the ‘Pocket Rocket’ completed around five of the eight hours on track – including a double stint at the end of the race.
The MCE BSB title contender was left with cramp in pretty much all of his body and blisters that looked like he had walked over hot coals after the race, which equalled the equivalent of 10 Silverstone race distances in 34 degrees heat; or from London to Aberdeen.
A hard-fought second place wasn’t without the drama though as a slow puncture and a visor problem tried their best to mar Haslam, but the draw of the podium was just too much.
Haslam's heroics from the man himself...
“This is definitely the hardest 8 Hour I have ever done. After last year we had such a strong 8 Hour and were really fast. Just for fun, I stayed on and did the last round of the Japanese Championship, finishing second in two races. That helped to show my Suzuka team what I was capable of, so this year they put a lot more emphasis on me, which was really nice. “Basically on Saturday they asked if I would do instead of three stints, five stints, which meant I would be doing back-to-back on the last two hours. I obviously said yes but it is definitely the hardest one I have ever had to do. Every time I got on the bike we made ground on that second place but it was a big battle and a lot happened with TSR having issues, but the Team Green bike I was riding was absolutely faultless.” But Haslam’s racing wasn’t entirely problem free, as he told us: “I had a few issues; on my second stint we had a slow puncture and on my very last stint I got some kind of moisture inside my visor and when it got dark I pretty much couldn’t see anything. I managed to maintain a lap time and we had a bit of a gap so it was okay, but at the same time it wasn’t easy – but that’s the 8 Hour. It always throws something in the works. A big thanks to Team Green and everyone involved.”