Haslam fought tooth-and-nail with Max Biaggi (Aprilia) in both 22-lappers and lost out on victory by the narrowest of margins - two 10ths-of-a-second in race one and just over a 10th in race two. Haslam‰Ûªs tally of 40 points keeps him top of the standings, 16 ahead of second-placed Biaggi.
It was always going to be a hard day for Suzuki Alstare team-mate Sylvain Guintoli, who started from the third row of the grid, but the Frenchman put in a pair of solid performances, finishing 13th in the first race and ninth in the second.
‰ÛÏIf anybody had told me before the start of the season that I would‰Ûªve won one race and taken three podiums in the first four races, I would not have believed them," Haslam said.
"It‰Ûªs a great feeling to win a race, take three runner-up spots; and be leading the championship and my aim is to try and maintain this kind of consistency as long as I can.
‰ÛÏToday‰Ûªs races were very hard and I had a lot of fun battling with Max: His bike is fast and there were a couple of places where he could get on the gas quicker than me, but my bike was good on the brakes. I did pass him quite a few times, but making it stick was a different matter. The grip-level was down in race two, but it was the same for everybody, and the lap times were generally down on race one.
‰ÛÏThe first time I jumped on the Suzuki Alstare bike I thought it was a good package and all the good work the team has done has proved how good it is. Of course, there are always some areas to improve and we‰Ûªll be going to the next round in Valencia hoping to put one over Max and all the other riders.
‰ÛÏI‰Ûªve had one victory and now I want more!‰Û
