The JG Speedfit Kawasaki team are celebrating a successful weekend at the British Superbike Championship at Snetterton after Leon Haslam secured another double victory and extended his championship lead.

Both JG Speedfit Kawasaki riders had a strong start to their weekend as they recorded the second and third fastest times across the three free practice sessions, however, they couldn’t quite carry this form into qualifying and Leon lined up in fifth place for Sunday’s opening 16-lap race with Luke Mossey two places further back in seventh.

It was Leon who made the better start to slot into fifth as Luke dropped back to 12th after being caught up in a second corner crash and while the latter’s race sadly ended on lap eight after a heavy crash, caused by a brake issue, Leon went from strength to strength and steadily moved through the field.

Just after half-race distance Leon moved up to second and on lap 14, he grabbed the lead to take the victory, his first ever BSB win at Snetterton.

Unfortunately, Luke suffered with suspected broken ribs in the spill which meant he was a non-starter for the second race and that just left Leon to fly the flag, with the race following a similar pattern to the first albeit with a thrilling conclusion.

Sixth at the end of lap one, the Derbyshire rider made steady progress through the field although it wasn’t until lap 11 when he grabbed the lead for the first time. It looked like it would be a two-horse race between Leon and Josh Brookes but in the closing stages, Jake Dixon closed in on the duo to set up a thrilling finale.

Brookes got by on a number of occasions only for Leon to retaliate and as they came out of the final bend on the last lap, the Australian nosed ahead once more. Leon moved to the outside and the two riders touched but as they sprinted to the line, it was win number five for the 35-year old with just 0.129 seconds separating the three riders.

The results mean that Leon now leads the championship on 165 points, some 64 clear of second placed Bradley Ray who failed to finish either race.

During the weekend the Quattro Plant JG Speedfit Kawasaki pairing of Ricky Stevens/Ryan Charlwood were also in action in the British Sidecar Championship. The duo took a brace of fourth-place finishes in their two races to move into fourth overall in the main championship.

However this meant they were the second placed of the Formula Two outfits in each race and their haul of 40 points has moved them up to second overall in the title table, 26 points behind the pace-setting Todd Ellis/Charlie Richardson.

Leon Haslam said:

“This is a great result and probably more than people realise from the outside. I’ve never won at Snetterton and we knew that was a challenge on its own, but also my bike doesn’t suit this circuit.

“Furthermore – and most importantly – making the SC0 tyre last in cool conditions, we even beat another Kawasaki using a hard tyre with Jake (Dixon). We used the same tyre as Josh (Brookes), normally the Yamaha is better on that tyre so this shows how much work the team has done to make it work for us.

“We’ve made some big changes with the set-up on the bike to try and help it and it’s really positive and the results show that. We are looking forward to doing a test at Knockhill before we go there to race.

“I must say a big thank you to all the team for all their efforts and hard work.”

Luke Mossey said:

“I’m so disappointed at the moment. We had been showing some good form all weekend and working hard to be consistently near the top of the time sheets. I felt good on the bike and I was really looking forward to the races.

“I got pushed out wide avoiding the Andrew Irwin crash and had to drop back several places but I was making good progress and I felt like I could push for a top five. However, I suffered with a brake problem and was forced to jump off the bike.

“I’m just so disheartened as we need our luck to change. I’ve possibly fractured a couple of ribs, so I will re-group and get myself fit for Knockhill and hopefully come back with some good results there.”

Ryan Charlwood said:

“We’re feeling quite despondent after this weekend’s result, but we really enjoyed the races.

“The bike has some technical issues at the front end and the steering wasn’t quite right which hampered our confidence throughout. We decided just to bring the bike home to gain some valuable points.

“As always we want to thank our fans, families, sponsors and the team for their continued support.”

Team Manager Jack Valentine added:

“It’s been an amazing weekend for Leon, we’ve had five wins on the trot now and we can’t complain. The biggest disappointment was Luke’s side as Luke was coming back to where he should be until we had the brake issue today. We hope he heals soon and can come back strong at Knockhill.

“From Kawasaki’s point of view and all the sponsors to get another double race win is fantastic. Two wins again, leading the championship, 28 podium credits and we can’t really do much more.

“It was a good weekend all in all for Leon and the team and we are looking forward to continuing the good results at Knockhill.”

Ricky and Ryan will now turn their attention to their next round in Cadwell from 23rd to 24th June and Leon and Luke will continue their campaign for championship points at Knockhill from 6th to 8th July.