Haslam to join Bournemouth Kawasaki for 2017
After much speculation about where he will spend 2017, Leon Haslam has announced he will return to Team Green in the MCE Insurance British Superbike Championship, after signing with Kawasaki UK and joining forces with Bournemouth Kawasaki as he plans his second attack on the championship crown that he so narrowly missed in 2016.
Haslam returned to the series last year from the World Championship and hit the ground running with the JG Speedfit Kawasaki team, taking the championship down to the very last round at Brands Hatch for it to be decided, missing out on the overall victory to Shane 'Shakey' Byrne who displayed great consistency towards the back end of the year.
Haslam will head into 2017 with the same goal in mind, to bag the championship and take his Kawasaki to the very top - and he seems to have even more confidence second time around. The rider said: 'This year was obviously a good one for me; it was my first season with Kawasaki and also the first back in MCE BSB with the no electronics rule. It was a tough year revisiting some of the tracks I hadn't been to for eight years but we came out fighting at every round.
'I had some interesting options in the World Championship but I know with this package we are going to be battling for wins and a championship title. I believe in Kawasaki and I think this second year working together will certainly put us in a stronger position than when we started out this season. I am looking forward to taking steps forward again in 2017 and with the understanding and knowledge that we have now I am really excited to get started.
'The aim for me is always to win and of course Shakey will be the target, but we both go into the new season with a year with our respective manufacturers so I feel we are in a similar position. There are lots of interesting rumours about who will be joining us on the grid next year, which is great as I love a challenge. We go into the 2017 season ahead of where we started this year and I feel with the development and testing programme we have ahead of us that we will be ready to roll when it comes to Donington Park for the first round.'
09.11.2016 - Big Ed
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