Haslam to Alstare Suzuki World Superbike

Haslam to Alstare Suzuki World Superbike

Leon Haslam will join Sylvain Guintoli on the Alstare Suzuki squad for the 2010 World Superbike championship season. The pairing will compete on Suzuki GSX-R1000 machines during the 25th anniversary of the historic model. The move will coincide with current Alstare rider Yukio Kagayama taking over Guintoli’s seat on the Worx Crescent Suzuki team so he can once again compete in the British Superbike series.

"Sylvain already knows about the Suzuki GSX-R and Pirelli tires and his professionalism and motivation for this new challenge are positive factors for us to start working together straight away,” explains Alstare Suzuki Team Principle Francis Batta. “We at Team Suzuki Alstare are also very happy to welcome a British rider. The Suzuki UK distributor has always given great support to Team Suzuki Alstare and all of us are delighted to have signed Leon Haslam for the 2010 World Superbike Championship. Leon has a good family set-up and they advise, support and help him very well. He has a real fighting spirit and is one of the best riders in the WSBK series, for sure. We are certain he will fit in perfectly with the Team Suzuki Alstare structure, as we both share the same desire to work hard and to win. With a team of such quality and experience as Suzuki Alstare, we feel that Leon will have a very bright future."

After an impressive start to the 2009 campaign that had Guintoli claiming a win and a runner-up position in the first race, things got ugly when he suffered a catastrophic crash at the hands of Josh Brookes during the sighting lap at Donington that left him with a broken tibia and fibula. He made a successful return early than expected but never really regained that early season confidence. He finished with a pair of fifth places in the most recent races at Oulton Park.

But the obvious star of the team will be Leon Haslam. Son of racing legend Ron Haslam, the young British ace is a hugely popular presence on the UK racing scene and will help return the Alstare pits back into a popular position in the World Superbike paddock. Haslam is a proven contender during his years in British Superbike and has shown flashes of brilliance during the 2009 World Superbike season with Stiggy Honda. He’s been on the podium three times to date and recently announced he would not be riding for his current team for 2010.

"The opportunity to join Team Suzuki Alstare was something that my father and I took extremely seriously immediately,” says Haslam. “The team enjoys direct support from the manufacturer and a long history of success, so joining them offers me an exciting step forward in my career.

"Meeting Francis Batta and listening to his plans and desire to succeed confirmed the potential of the whole team and its infrastructure. Suzuki Alstare has a very experienced team of technicians and potential for development, both in-house and via the factory in Japan. This means that the team is 100 per cent geared up to win the 2010 World Superbike Championship.”