Leon Haslam

Leon Lloyd Haslam (born 31 May 1983 in Smalley, Derbyshire) is a motorcycle racer from England. He began racing at an early age and by the time he was in his late teens, he had raced in most of the significant British and international championships. Between 2005 and 2008 he was a regular front-runner in the British Superbike Championship. For 2009 he switched to the Superbike World Championship, remaining there in 2010 (his third full season in the class) on a factory Suzuki. Haslam is nicknamed 'Pocket Rocket' and is the son of 'Rocket' Ron Haslam.

Early Days 1998–2003

Haslam was first exposed to motorcycle racing as a baby, often travelling with his parents to his dad's races. He was 1995 and 1996's National Youth Motocross champion, and 1998's MCN Young Rider of the Year after finishing 7th in the British 125cc Championship. He did an assortment of 125cc races in 1999, but quickly advanced into international racing after that. Leon spent the 2000 season with the underprepared ItalJet team on their return to the 125cc world championship, then racing a privateer Honda NSR500V in 2001 (scoring five points finishes, as the youngest rider ever to compete in the series), and a 250cc Honda in 2002 (again scoring points five times).At this stage, having never ridden on competitive machinery, he had valuable experience but little in the way of...
Read More