Leon Haslam boosted his title aspirations at Assen by claiming a dominant double victory at the Dutch circuit to close to within 17 points of series leader Byrne, setting up a great finale in two weeks at Brands Hatch. It was mixed fortunes for his JG Speedfit Kawasaki team mates though as James Ellison took third and seventh whilst Peter Hickman had a 16th and 14th.

It was a good start to the Assen weekend for the JG Speedfit Kawasaki trio, with Leon finishing the opening day in third, James seventh and Peter 13th. With overnight rain drenching the circuit ahead of Saturday’s morning practice, James topped the final session with Leon and James further back. With a fully dry circuit for qualifying, James and Leon eased through to the final session to eventually secure second and third respectively for the opening race. Unfortunately for Pete, a technical problem meant he was unable to set a flying lap in Q1 and would start from 20th.

James launched off the line in the opening race to grab the holeshot, whilst Leon had slipped back to sixth. With no one able to break away it was a six rider fight for the lead for much of the race, with only race leader Byrne and Leon able to pull away during the closing stages. Making his way through to the lead on the penultimate lap, Leon was able to fend off Byrne’s charges to take a memorable race victory by just 0.01s. James made a welcome return to the podium in third whilst Peter was narrowly out of the points in 16th.

With the fastest lap times from the opening race setting the grid for race two, James would start from third, Leon fifth and Pete 15th. Again enjoying a great start, James and Leon ran second and fourth at the end of the opening lap and in a repeat of the opening encounter there was a gaggle of riders battling for the lead. Chipping his way through, Leon briefly held the lead early on before slipping back to second, but making a decisive move on lap nine he was able to fend off a late challenge from Byrne to claim his second win of the day and reduce the gap to the series lead to just 17 points with three races remaining. Suffering with slight chatter towards the end, James eventually crossed the line in seventh whilst Pete was 14th.  



Over the moon to take the double, Leon Haslam said 

“It’s fantastic to be leaving here with the double. That second race I was watching Shakey’s pit board and could see him coming through the pack so I knew he was there and that last lap I rode defensively to get it done. A huge thanks to the team, we struggled a bit but they got it turned around and we can head to Brands with a chance. Shakey rode fantastically today and Brands is his home round so we know he’ll be fast, but I’m feeling good on the bike and we know our strengths so I’m looking forward to it!”  

Disappointed his 2016 Championship challenge is over, James Ellison added 

“It’s been a bit of a gutting weekend if I’m honest. We came in thinking we had a chance to take the Championship to Brands but unfortunately it’s not meant to be. It’s certainly been a tough season, particularly with the mid-season issues we had, but since we got it fixed we’ve been pushing at the front these last few rounds and are running with Leon and Shane. I had a little bit of chatter towards the end in that second race which just meant the others were able to pass me but my plan is to go to Brands and the season on a high with some wins.”

Struggling with grip today, Peter Hickman said 

“It’s been the worst weekend of the year for me really. The problem in qualifying really hampered us, everyone is so, so fast this year you just can’t make your way forward. Warm up was great and felt really positive for race one but unfortunately I just didn’t have the same grip from the rear in the race which meant we were unable to improve our grid spot for race two. The team have worked so hard and leaving here with two points isn’t really what we want or where we should be!”

GBmoto Racing Team Manager, Terry Rymer concluded, 

“Wow! What a weekend. We had a few small issues to begin with but the guys worked exceptionally hard and we were able to turn it around today. Shakey was so strong yesterday but Leon pushed to the maximum in both races and to walk away with two wins is incredible. We’ve clawed back a few points in the Championship and although it’ll be tough at Brands we believe we can do it!

It was great to see James up on the podium again in that first race, whilst unfortunately for Pete the problem yesterday in qualifying really put him on the back foot for today. The JG Speedfit Kawasaki team leave Assen in a great mood though and we’ll be taking the fight to Brands Hatch in two weeks!”