Haslam hops to hold his WSBK lead despite an injured wrist.

Current Superbike World Championship leader Leon Haslam is desperate to hold onto the top ranking in the series this weekend as the series visits Kyalami in South Africa for the sixth round of the 2010 season, despite nursing an injured left wrist coming into the weekend.

The season so far is proving to be the most competitive since the series began in 1988 and every practice, qualifying and race has been closely contested.

After taking fourth and second last weekend in Monza, Haslam tops the series by three points and will be looking to extend that lead at the demanding 4.263-kilometre Kyalami circuit. The track is one of the most undulating circuits on the calendar and features many changes of elevation and bike set-up and a good grid position will be crucial.

In Monza last weekend, Haslam hurt his left wrist when he had a big ‘moment’ in the first race. He was spectacularly-high-sided but somehow managed to stay on the bike. In the process of keeping hold of his GSX-R1000 Suzuki, he tweaked an old scaphoid and ligament injury, but still managed to get on the podium in race two.

“Kyalami is a physically demanding track and it is going to give my left wrist a good workout, but I don’t think it’s going to be too much of a problem,” Haslam commented. “It was well strapped up in the afternoon and I didn’t feel much pain.

“Of course, it would’ve been good to have a bit more of a gap between Monza and Kyalami, but I shall just have to put up with it. Max Biaggi went well in Monza, so I will have to do my best to make sure I beat him and maintain my series lead.

“In Kyalami last year, I qualified 10th, DNF’d in the first race and finished fourth in the second, so I will be aiming to do a lot better than that this weekend.”

Practice will get underway today, with the Alstare Suzuki factory star maintaining a three point advantage over Biaggi in the standings.