Leon Haslam extended his Superbike World Championship lead after a win and fourth-place finish in Sunday's round in Valencia.
British rider scores a win and a fourth-place finish in Valencia
Leon Haslam has extended his lead at the top of the FIM Superbike World Championship standings after scoring a victory and a fourth-place finish in Sunday's round at Valencia's Circuit Ricardo Tormo.
Double world champion James Toseland made his first impression since returning from MotoGP with third place in race one, while last year's British champion Leon Camier led in race two before crashing out.
Veteran Noriyuki Haga eventually took the chequered flag in the second race but it was Haslam who gained the most, having extended his lead over Max Biaggi to 18 points after three rounds.
Although Toseland's Sterilgarda Yamaha team-mate Cal Crutchlow started from pole for race one it was BMW rider Troy Corser who led into the first corner from fifth on the grid.
Carlos Checa soon took over with Biaggi, Haslam and Camier rounding out the top five at the end of lap one - Crutchlow having fallen back to eighth.
Checa crashed out after losing the front end on lap three before Haslam passed Corser to take the lead on lap four.
Shane Byrne also crashed out before Toseland - who started ninth on the grid - moved into third after making a brave move past Biaggi.
Camier then parted ways with his Aprilia at 130mph before Toseland passed Corser to claim second place and chase after Haslam.
In the event it was Biaggi who finished second, 1.757seconds behind Haslam with Corser fourth behind Toseland and Haga fifth.
Huge accident
Checa hit the front again in race two but the race was then stopped after a huge accident involving Simon Andrews and Vittorio Iannuzzo.
The pair were involved in an incident on the start-finish straight at the start of lap four - Andrews being thrown into the pit wall before Iannuzzo pulled over to the side of the track and collapsed.
The race was halted for half an hour as both riders were treated by medical staff, with Camier - who had been passed fit to race after his crash in race one - taking the lead.
However, the race was now aggregated meaning that Camier had to press ahead if he was to overhaul overall race leader Checa.
He did just that but overdid it once more with 10 laps remaining, with Haga moving swiftly through from fourth place and into the lead on the track - the Xerox Ducati rider then taking the overall lead.
The Japanese rider finished just 0.025 seconds ahead of Checa, with Biaggi in third ahead of Haslam, Jonathan Rea and Sylvain Guintoli.
Haslam later said: "To come away from Valencia with a race win and a little bit more of a lead in the championship is probably better than I expected.
"We've worked really hard this weekend and it was always going to be a close contest.
"The win in the first race was a bit strange as I didn't feel that fast but the rising temperature was affecting everyone and reducing tyre grip so it was just a case of getting into a rhythm and holding on to the lead.
"Race two was a bit disappointing really. In the first part I was making good progress and felt comfortable.
"On the restart I had to work hard again to get through to fourth but the front three were gone and I was struggling for rear grip so settled for fourth place and the championship points."
