Leon Haslam took his first win of the 2007 season in race one at Mondello Park today. He followed it up with a 4th place in race two. Gregorio Lavilla also put in a fantastic performance coming from 12th on the grid to take 3rd place in both races. With conditions dry for the first time this weekend, both races looked set to produce significantly faster lap times than the last two days. Leon had a good start in race one and was in the lead by the end of the first lap. He fought off challenges throughout the race from the Honda’s to take the chequered flag. Greg had moved his way through the field to 5th before overtaking Rea and Kiyonari on lap 13 to finish 3rd.
At the start of race two Leon moved into 2nd place before dropping to 3rd on lap 5. By lap 8 Greg had moved into 4th behind his team mate and the two Airwaves Ducati’s battled it out for the final podium spot for the remainder of the race. In the closing stages Greg overtook Leon to take a hard fought 3rd place finish.
Leon was clearly delighted with his performance, “I am over the moon, it has been a really good day and I am so pleased to have got my first race win. I felt really good and the bike was feeling great, so I knew I would be able to put in a strong performance. It was a bit of a gamble for everyone as it was dry today, but I was confident that we had a good set up and I knew that if I got a good start I could challenge for the top spot. The Airwaves Ducati team and Dunlop have worked really hard and we have come out with a great result. It was a little disappointing not to have achieved a podium finish in race two but I have earned some valuable championship points and I am confident for Knockhill in a couple of weeks time.”
After two podium finishes Greg commented, “It has been a good day, we were not expecting to do that well here so I am pleased that I was able to achieve two 3rd places. It has been a tough weekend; I did not do that well in qualifying so I knew today would be hard work. I quite enjoy working my way through the field and having people in front of me to chase; although I am sure the boss would have preferred it if I had not started from were I did on the grid! I am now only one point behind Kiyo in the championship so I am going to try and build on that in the next couple of rounds and hopefully get a few race wins too!”
Race One Results:1) Leon Haslam – Airwaves Ducati
2) Shane Byrne – Stobart Vent Axia
3) Gregorio Lavilla – Airwaves Ducati
4) Jonathan Rea – HM Plant Honda
5) Ryuichi Kiyonari – HM Plant Honda
Race Two Results:1) Jonathan Rea – HM Plant Honda
2) Shane Byrne – Stobart Vent Axia
3) Gregorio Lavilla – Airwaves Ducati
4) Leon Haslam – Airwaves Ducati
5) Ryuichi Kiyonari – HM Plant Honda
Championship Points:1) Ryuichi Kiyonari – 212
2) Gregorio Lavilla – 211
3) Jonathan Rea – 187
4) Leon Haslam – 169
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