Leon Haslam · Biography

Leon Lloyd Haslam won his first title in 1995, when he took the British national youth motocross championship. He won it again in 1996. Born on 31 May 1983, he is the son of former road racer Ron Haslam, known as “Rocket Ron”. His career has run for more than two decades across Grand Prix racing, the Superbike World Championship and the British Superbike Championship (BSB). He finished runner-up in World Superbikes in 2010 with Suzuki, won the British title in 2018 with Kawasaki and won the Suzuka 8 Hours three times.

From motocross to Grand Prix racing

After motocross he moved to the tarmac. In 1998 he finished seventh in the British 125cc Championship and was named MCN Young Rider of the Year. That same year he made his debut in the 125cc world championship with Honda, where he stayed in 1999 without scoring a point. In 2000 he rode for Italjet and finished 27th with 6 points. In 2001 he moved up to 500cc on a privateer Honda NSR500V with the Shell Advance Honda team. He was the youngest rider ever to race in the class and finished 19th with 13 points. In 2002 he dropped to 250cc with Cibertel Honda BQR and finished 18th on 19 points.

Ducati and the early BSB years

In 2003 he returned to Britain with Renegade Ducati. He was 13th in BSB and made six World Superbike starts, with two sixth places at Assen and Magny-Cours as his best results. In 2004 he raced the full World Superbike season with the same team. He took third place at the German round, finished eighth with 169 points and was rookie of the year. From 2005 to 2007 he raced in BSB with Airwaves Ducati, finishing fourth, then second with 458 points, then third. In 2008 he joined HM Plant Honda, was British runner-up again and made four World Superbike starts.

World Superbike runner-up in 2010

In 2009 he returned to World Superbikes full time with Stiggy Racing Honda and finished sixth with 241 points. In 2010 he joined Team Suzuki Alstare. At the opening race of the year, at Phillip Island, he took his first pole and his first World Superbike win, beating Michel Fabrizio by 0.004 seconds. He scored three wins, fourteen podiums and 376 points in 26 races and finished runner-up in the world championship, behind Max Biaggi. In 2011 and 2012 he rode for the factory BMW Motorrad Motorsport team, finishing fifth and eighth overall.

Honda, Suzuka and Aprilia

In 2013 he moved to Ten Kate’s Pata Honda team. He finished 13th that year and seventh in 2014. In July 2013 he won the Suzuka 8 Hours with the MuSASHi RT HARC-PRO team, sharing the bike with Takumi Takahashi and Michael van der Mark. The same trio won again in 2014. In 2015 he raced for the Aprilia Racing Team Red Devils, won two races and finished fourth in the championship with 332 points. His second win came in the final race of the year at Losail, Qatar, where he passed Chaz Davies at the last corner.

British champion with Kawasaki

In 2016 he returned to BSB with JG Speedfit Kawasaki and finished runner-up with nine wins and 640 points. In 2017 he finished third. He led the championship going into the final race, but brake failure caused a crash and he broke an ankle. In 2018 he became British Superbike champion with 699 points, 15 wins and 21 podiums, clinching the title at the final round at Brands Hatch. At Suzuka, with Team Green Kawasaki, he finished second in 2016 and 2017 and third in 2018.

World Superbikes again, then back to BSB

In 2019 he joined the Kawasaki Racing Team alongside Jonathan Rea and finished seventh in the world championship with 281 points. That summer he won the Suzuka 8 Hours for a third time, with Rea and Toprak Razgatlıoğlu. In 2020 and 2021 he rode for Honda’s Team HRC. In 2022 he went back to BSB with Lee Hardy Racing Kawasaki and finished 11th. On a BMW he was fifth in 2023 and ninth in 2024. In 2025 he joined Moto Rapido Ducati Racing. That May at Oulton Park he won his first race since 2018, and he finished the championship in third place with 362 points.