The teams are completing their last minute checks and thousands of fans are revving up for the start of the British Superbike Championship. The action on the grid gets underway on the 6th of April and here’s your chance to quiz top rider Leon Haslam.

Leon will again be hoping to challenge for top honours and hoping to better his second place finish in the 2006 championship. Who will be his toughest opponents on the track? Will Michael Laverty again be out in front, maybe Ian Lowry will be taking more chequered flags this time round?

Get the low down ahead of this weekend’s opening race at Brands Hatch as Leon joins Eurosport’s Tony Carter in the studio to answer all your questions about the upcoming season.

Leon Haslam joins Tony Carter joins live online on Thursday 3rd April at 12:30 to discuss the British Superbike Championship.

For more information visit http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/

H: Tony Carter, host
L: Liam Haslam

H: Hello and welcome to the Sports show in conjunction with British Eurosport. My name's Tony Carter and I'm the presenter of the British Superbikes on British Eurosport 2. Joining me in the studio is title favourite for 2008 Leon Haslam, but before we get to him and find out his thoughts on the coming season, let's take a look at the sort of action you can expect this year

Video footage

H: Yes that's going to be Superbikes based in all over written big and large in 2008. Well like I said Leon Haslam's with me here in the studio on the Sports Show. Leon thanks for joining us and thanks for this look ahead to the 2008 Superbike season. Now let's just get a few things out the way first of all, people sending in all sorts of questions as they've been waiting for this webcast, and the first question is a great one, it's from Simon Bradley and what I will do is I'll just throw one to you straight away, and Simon's asked a great question here of – he says it's probably a bit difficult because of your own personal background, with your racing family and your father Ron, and all of that thrown in, but from your opinion, is a good racer born or are they trained?

L: That's a good question. There's a lot of top riders as in your Kenny Roberts, your Valentino Ross's been brought in from their dad's racing, brought into it, born into it – same as myself, but I think racing's all about you wanting to do it, such a tough sport and it's such a mental sport, you need to want it more than anything else, and if you're born into it or you're trained into it, it's all about your own personal wanting to win and wanting to push the limits, wanting to crash at God knows what speeds and get back on, and –

H: Well you don't want to crash at God knows what speed

L: Exactly so for me it's, it's all about that key person or how they want it. A lot of people that's not been born into it and purely done it off their own back, they're the sort of people that really obviously work at it because it is what they want, where a lot of people are born into it might not necessarily be doing it for the right reasons. It basically shows when you do get up to the top end of the scale

H: Yes because at that point you've just got to break away and be your own man

L: Exactly you've got to be your own man and you've got to want it for yourself and it's something that every racer comes to and it asks that question – do you really want it?

H: Well a quick reminder that you can still send us all the questions that you may have to Leon and me here in the studio, just get bashing away and we'd love to hear from you over the next 20 minutes or so that we're doing this webcast. Second question just come in from Lucy, she only says “Lucy” – Lucy come on Lucy don't be shy! It says “hi Leon, now that you've tested the new Fireblade, how competitive do you think the bike will be against the Ducati?” That's the Ducati 1200 of course

L: Yes I think it's going to be exciting. We've been quickest at every test we've gone onto it, it's a brand new bike for me, I've never owned a 4 cylinder 4 stroke race bike. The Ducati's obviously made a big improvement, it's gone up 200cc, it's gained at least 20 brake horse, but as far as power on the Honda, it's very similar to what we had last year, or they had last year. So regards to the close racing, it's going to be very competitive, but the bike itself, standard for standard, is a lot, lot better. It's a lot more moto GP spec, it's a lot lighter, it handles better and I think once you put that into race spec and race trim, I do think it's a very, very competitive package

H: Ok well let's backtrack a little bit about the championship that's coming up. Lot of changes for this year, first off let's have a quick chat about the Pirelli situation, the Pirelli tyres – one make tyre now that you're only going to ride Pirellis across the championship. Your thoughts on that?

L: I think it's going to make the racing real close, I think it's going to be really interesting, it's going to be another factor that's come into play. We've got 3 tyres, basically a, b and a c tyre,

H: 3 compounds

L: 3 compounds of strength, you've got to get one to last a race. Obviously softer you go normally means a better lap time, but obviously if it's not going to last a race everyone's got them same options, so it's going to make interesting racing and I think it's going to be a factor throughout the whole season, and I think it's going to be good. It's a shame that the developments stopped in the other manufacturers, the battle against Michelin and Dunlop, but as far as the championship it's working really well in World Superbike and I think it's going to be a key factor in British Superbike as well

H: So from your point of view as a racer, it's a good thing. Do you think it's going to be a good thing from the spectator's point of view?

L: Yes from a spectator's point of view it's going to be close racing, and everyone's going to know that they're on the same tyres. There's always a bit of bantering in the paddock if you're on Dunlops, you're not on the same Dunlops as the other guy and that's why he's beating you. It's going to take all that out the window, we're all on the same tyres. We're all on standard pistons this year in British Superbike with standard engine rules, so in theory any bike that's on that grid, even my factory Honda or Shaky Burns Factory 1200, anybody can actually have access to them bikes and them tyres and compete against us in the championship, so from that point of view I think it's going to be really interesting from a public point of view really

H: Ok well you talked about a couple of your rivals out there, but Sean has sent us an email, thanks very much for your question Sean, and he's very blunt and to the point and he says “who's the toughest rider to beat in BSB?” You can't have yourself in there. I won't allow yourself in there

L: No for me BSB's just got so strong over the last few years. Shaky Burn's proven himself a double race winner at Brand's Hatch that world scene, he's done Moto GP, he's one of the few guys this year that's won races on a Ducati, so for me Shaky's going to be competitive and the new 1200's competitive, but then the other factor that a lot of people don't see is, you've got all these young guys that's come up from Supersport, you've got Cal Crutchlow, Camea, Tom Sykes – all guys that are young and they're not worried about the necessary championship, they want to win races, they've not won a race yet. All them guys that's come up, they've had a learning year, they're very fast and they're going to be battling, they're going to be bashing Farians, that aspect alone makes it good, close racing and you've obviously got to take and give them respect as well because they're going to be there

H: You talk about the young guys coming up from Supersport – you're not an old-timer yourself are you, you're 24 now, you'll soon be 25, so you're not exactly over-the-hill are you Leon? But from you, from your background, your personal perspective it's a very different kettle of fish to the Cal Crutchlows, the Tom Sykes, you know those sorts of guys?

L: Yes basically and nobody wants to crash, nobody wants to push themselves to be reckless on this track, but –

H: Have you never seen British Superbike?

L: But when I first started it was – you do push yourself to the limit of – well let's find the limit, and sometimes go beyond and obviously experience of your Shaky Burns and – I do class myself as having a lot of experience and you kind of know where the limit is, even if you're not winning a race you know that you're on the limit and that's as much as you can do, and sometimes it gets he better of you and you do push that little bit too hard sometimes, but these younger guys that are in the second year in Superbikes, they're pushing the edge and they sometimes push a little bit over the edge as Calla last year had a few spills and crashes but when they was on the bike they're very competitive and you've got to take that into consideration when you're racing these guys, and there's nothing against them, they're getting faster and they're learning and they are staying on, and that's only going to put them in good stead for them to progress and move on

H: Especially when you look at guys like Tom Sykes on the Rizla Suzuki, we haven't really spoken about him too much, but Tom finished 5 podiums in the last 5 races last year, really pushed you

L: Exactly, he pushed me in both races at Donnington Park where I got my double win and he's one of the guys that's not pushed himself to crash, he's just been real consistent, real fast and real smooth, and he's slowly got to the level where he's at, and they're the sort of people where you've got to watch out for, because they're not just doing it on a one lap or taking the brain out for a few laps and getting away with it, he built it up, consistently stopped on the bike and he was competitive, and they're the guys that you've got to worry about for the championship and you've got your hair raisers that you know they're going to be there for a few laps and if they stay on they've got a chance of winning, so you've got to somehow beat them

H: Hello Carl Harris. That one's about Carl Harris on the Yamaha. Right let's have a look at another question that's just come in from Mark P – interesting spelling of Mark, I know a Mark P, if it's you Mark P hello. It says here – great question – “you raced in 500s like your dad” – which you did, we were there in Italy with you. I remember the party well. “Do you think you could beat a 24 year old Rocket Ron at his best on equal machinery?” Come on, let's have it, let's have the truth

L: I'm a racer, I've got to say I'll beat him but – I've watched the videos and he has beaten the best in the world and he was the best at the time for England especially, and the knowledge that he's got and the development that he's got is so helpful for me at the minute, but I'm glad that he is 52 now and he still pushes me even now, so at 24 I'm sure – and I know he crashed quite a lot so hopefully he'd have crashed and let me win. But I bought him a t-shirt the other day actually saying “the older I get the better I was” so I'm happy I got him that t-shirt, and he wears it proudly

H: Does he show you old cute videos does he –

L: Yes that's it, from back in the day

H: He's really fast on those things. Another question, good question this from Christian Tibertious – hope I've said that right Christian, apologies if I haven't. It says “hi Liam. I'd just like to say that you've given us some great times over the years, particularly the last race at Brands last season. But my question is where do you see yourself moving to in the future, would you prefer a good 250 Moto GP ride over a good world Superbike ride?” Cracking question

L: It's a cracking question yes and when I rode 250s back in 2002, I had a very hard decision. I could have stayed in 250s and basically stopped in Moto GP and done the world scene which obviously is everyone's dream, but I made a decision to leave that and come back and learn 4 stroke. I wanted to – everything was going four strokes at that time, as in Moto GP now, and I made the decision to come back, learn four strokes and basically win at four strokes level so to go back to Moto GP. And I think the 250s is so hard even though like Eugene Laverty is one of the most talented English riders there is –

H: Cracking rider, absolutely cracking rider

L: But if you haven't got the team, the backing and the support you're just basically digging yourself into a hole, and I know how competitive it is out there and how hard it is. Where for me I think I want to win British Superbike, I want to win World Superbike but also my main objective is to get that factory competitive ride in Moto GP and to do that the only way of doing that is to win the 250 championship, or to win World Superbike Championship as James Toseland has done, and I feel that it'd be a lot easier to get a competitive ride to go to World Superbike than it would ever be to go back to 250 and get a competitive ride in that

H: Ok, good question that links on from that then and one that's just been emailed in from Red Heaven, thank you very much Red Heaven – Red Heaven, I like it. Probably didn't mean that if we're honest. It says “does Moto GP need a good clearout to get rid of old wood like Capirossi, Nakano and Ant West, and when will you be heading back there?” Well you've kind of answered that second part, but what about the Capirossi, Nakano point?

L: Well Capirossi did pretty well at the weekend –

H: Yes, yes

L: I think at Second Bridge stone

H: That fight with JT in the last corner was just amazing

L: Yes to be fair the age thing isn't a big thing. It doesn't necessarily mean that you're over the hill or whatever, if you still want racing Laris proves that you're still capable of winning races, even on that Suzuki he's beaten Christopher Mule and I think both races he beat him and he's still got it, he's still got the spark, and it's all about how you're competing and if you really do want it, and yes obviously I'd love to be there, I'd love to be on a factory team, I'd love to have the opportunity to show the boys what I can do and as James is now and he's taking full advantage of that. There is – the only thing on the Moto GP front, I do find that nationality has a big thing to do with it. Spanish and Italians do get the opportunities because they're Spanish and Italian teams, they obviously –

H: But don't you think they might be a bit of a seed change going on with that now with – we've got James Toseland, in the 125s we've got Scott Reading, Danny Webb, Bradley Smith – you know it's – do you not thing there could be a shift of the tide perhaps starting?

L: I'd like to think so but at the end of the day it's still Italian sponsors and Italian teams running the teams and if yes we have got some fantastic riders with Bradley and Scott and all them guys, and they're going to give the best riders the rides, but at the end of the day an Italian sponsor still wants an Italian rider on his bike, and same with the Spanish riders. And it is difficult and I know James went the Yamaha route and for me it wasn't necessarily the best team to win a world championship, but it's given him a fantastic opportunity to prove himself, as does Bradley and Scott. If they can still win on stuff that might not necessarily be the best then that will create them opportunities, and that's what they need to do. It's all down to the team and the backing, and I'd just like to see more English sponsors and more English teams in there that want English riders rather than just having to have a rider because he is winning. They're getting opportunities created for them before they're actually winning and –

H: Gives them that learning space

L: Gives them a learning space and the feeling of wanting to be there, and a progression in the sport. James has had to do it the hard way and become two times world Superbike champion before he even got – for me – not the best of rides in Moto GP but a ride just to try and prove himself

H: Sure, sure sure – right let's concentrate now on the BSB side of it, you're going to a lot of UK tracks this year, you're going to Thruxton, Croft, Cadwell – all the usual tracks that we go to, a lot of them very very tricky circuits to get round – what's your favourite? Guessing that you live near Donnington

L: Donnington for me is where I got my first double win, it's 20 minutes from my house, all my family and friends go, it's a fantastic venue. I've never had the best of results until I got my double win there, one of my next favourites is definitely Cadwell park – it's a unique track on its own. It's got the mountain, the jump, the crowds –

H: But that's unusual isn't it, I mean because amongst you guys, amongst the paddock, amongst you racers, there's not a lot of you out there who seem to like Cadwell Park

L: It's a rider's circuit, it doesn't matter what bike or track you're on, it doesn't really suit a particular bike, it is just a rider's track, and if you know Cadwell and you can ride Cadwell hard you can win at Cadwell, and for me that's always been a key point of – you take away – oh I'm not on Mann tyres, I'm not on that bike – Cadwell kind of gets rid of all that and it's how hard you can ride. It is a narrow track, it has got its dangerous points, but it makes you ride the track rather than your bike's better here or better there and being obviously that I've won there every year and got that record it's always a good place to go to for me

H: Well I guess in the world of PC gone mad, it's nice to have a track that's got a bit of added danger thrown in you know

L: Yes –

H: Cadwell is not a safe track, I think a lot of people will agree with that. You know not safe – if you compare it to like Donnington, Silverston, it doesn't have that area of run-off but there is that something about it isn't there, that personality?

L: It has, it's got unique things that no other track in the world's got, it's got the mountain, it's got the jump – Johnny Rea last year managed to do a one handed jump over it on a road racing bike which – there's nowhere in the world that you see that and it is a narrow, twisty track – it has got dangers but it's got so much more safer, they've worked really hard on that, and especially the speeds they were doing, I think it's good. I've crashed there in 4th and 5th gears and walked away and not been a problem, so as far as the safety front it's getting better and better and it always creates really good racing

H: Ok quick spin-off from that then, how is – and by the way that question was from Benedict Isle so Benedict thank you very much. But an extra question to throw in the back of that, how do you think Atsushi Watanabe the double Japanese Superbike Champion whose coming to the BSB for the first time this year – how do you think he's going to find Cadwell?

L: Cadwell again, because it is – you have to know the track, you have to know where the bumps, the jumps, the techniques to attack Cadwell Park are, he's going to find it hard. It is a hard track to learn. Gregorio just couldn't get his head round it and he had three years at it. He got better and better as the years went on. Same as Kyanari. It's a very unique track and it's the sort of place that scares the hell out of you when you go there, but more and more you ride it better and better your feeling gets and more you learn to enjoy it

H: Ok well you are – you have been a racer for a long time – I was going to say the old man, but you're not an old man as we've touched on already – 24 – the good question here from Dan Burgess which is what I was getting around to. It says “what's it like to live the dream of being a British Superbike rider? It's my passion and what advice would you give to young riders?” Good question

L: Racing in general, the biggest thing that I've learnt in general is that you've got to want it, you've want to need to do it and – my early days I was doing it because it was something that I was good at, I got opportunities to progress and I never really got the question asked to me “am I doing this for me or just because it's a nice way of living?” and now that I know this is all I ever wanted to do, I don't want to do anything else, this is me, I've dedicated so much more time and effort and sacrifice as such into my racing and it's really just to get me at my end result – back in the day as a teenager when I was 14, 15, travelling the world I thought it was great. Not really doing too much, I was young, I was fit anyway so I didn't really have to work at it, and there was no sacrifices. But now it's such a competitive sport you need to be at the top of your game on your fitness, you need to be at the top of your game on your diets, the training, the testing and off the track as well with media and everything – you have to be completely on top form in all aspects to basically be the best of what you need to be at and it is difficult but it's what I want to do so it's not a sacrifice in my mind because I love my training now, I love being fit, I love basically racing and it does actually produce a better result at the end, so that's my main objective

H: Great so if you want to do it just get up and do it really is the message there. Another question from Mike Fudge, thank you Mike. “If you could change one rule in British Superbikes, what would it be?”

L: Rules in British Superbikes –

H: Put the turbos on the bike?

L: No I was probably going to say the red flag rule. It lost me my championship in 2006, I was leading the race on lap 15 – I led him back through on lap 16 and it got red flagged, and if they'd have red flagged the lap before I would have won the championship, but they red flagged it the lap afterwards and I lost the championship. So to end the season purely on a technicality like that, it was really hard to come over, but I think the Moto GP's got a good system down where they basically if it gets red flagged they end up having a six lap race, or a 3 lap race, or a 4 lap race and I know there's got to be a cut off point at one time but it is a something that needs to be looked at just on that side of it really

H: Ok, one more question from Andrew Dickens, from Shortlist.com, thank you Andrew. It says “in the 70s and 80s your dad and Barry Sheen made bike racing massively popular.” They really did. “Is it a sport missing characters like that now?”

L: Yes definitely, you find it – I find it hard to be myself, be a character – you've got so many people that you've got to say this word so many times, you've got to say that word so many times, you've got to get all your sponsors in and it takes the character away from who you really are and my dad and Barry, they were the only who they was, they didn't necessarily have the sponsors, the team and you have to do this, you have to do that, and they were just who they was and that character came out in who they were and it created heroes and I think that it does like that, and Valentino gets away with it, he is himself and he is a superstar, he's a hero and people do want to follow him, and me as a person I try and be myself as much as I can but on the other side of it, when you are trying to make it in the sport you're doing you've got to get your sponsors mentions in and everybody that you need to say, and it is difficult to be yourself and yes I do think it is missing that, especially from an English point of view. You need the characters, you need to have someone to follow

H: Well hopefully the characters are going to come out more on British Eurosport throughout the summer, we are live with every Superbike race every Sunday, and Leon the British Eurosport deal is great for the BSB championship

L Yes for me Eurosport's the home of racing, it's got Moto GP, World Superbike – to have Jack and Jamie commentating as well, they're such characters and to listen to them at World Superbike, I think it will be fantastic. Like I say it's the home of racing for me so just to be – to watch myself on there and it gees you up – I always watch the racing on a Sunday night over and over again, normally with my dad, and it will be good to see on Eurosport 2

H: Ok well listen that's about us for today but all I have to do is remind you that the British Superbikes are on British Eurosport, you can catch it live every Sunday that the Championship is on. 12 dates in all and don't forget you can also see it streamed on the website, the address is www.uk.eurosport.yahoo.com, that's all the w's.uk.eurosport.yahoo. com. Leon thanks very much for joining us here and thanks for allowing us to pluck you from your pre-BSB presentation preparation, and everything else that you're looking forward to, and best of luck for this year and from us here in the studio that's it

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