<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE <div class='quotemain'>Haslam ponders MotoGP, WSBK and BSB.
Although he narrowly lost the British Superbike Championship on Sunday, Leon Haslam has now emerged as one of Britain's top three motorcycle racers and is considering a rich menu of options for 2007.
It's no secret that the 23-year-old Derbyshire rider has talked to Fausto Gresini, the former rider whose Honda satellite team has coaxed Marco Melandri and Sete Gibernau to MotoGP wins. Gresini could lose star rider Melandri to Ducati next season, while current team-mate Toni Elias faces an uncertain future.
Haslam might also figure in Kenny Roberts Senior's plans for his Team KR MotoGP squad, if the triple world champion can get enough of Honda's new 800cc V4 engines to allow him to run two riders. And Haslam would also be willing to discuss an approach from the new Ilmor team, if the British engine-building specialists considered him for its planned two-man MotoGP debut in 2007.
There's even more. His current GSE Racing team will know within the next two weeks whether it will progress to the World Superbike series or continue in the British championship. And whichever way it moves, it wants to retain existing riders Haslam and Gregorio Lavilla, who finished second and third in the British rankings, behind Honda's Ryuichi Kiyonari.
"Leon has improved immensely compared to the rider he was last year," GSE team principal Darrell Healey told Crash.net. "I thought it would take him two or three years to reach where he is now, but his race craft is maturing all the time, and he's also been really impressive off the bike.
"We hope to move forward with the same two riders. They've done a fantastic job for us this year, and we've made what we feel is a fair and reasonable offer to each of them for next year."
Haslam's performance this season and his international experience now means that he joins James Toseland and Neil Hodgson in a triumvirate of top British riders. He is an intriguing prospect to MotoGP team managers because his three years from 2000-2002 on 125, 250 and 500cc GP bikes, plus his 2004 season in World Superbikes, means that he already knows most of the circuits, and the culture of world championship racing.
"Kenny Roberts and Chuck Aksland (Team KR's manager) were very interested in Leon," said his mother Ann, who is part of his management team. "It's a case of the availability of engines.
"We will chase up the conversation with Gresini. Leon's name is in the hat now, and it's a case of waiting to see what happens."
Haslam will attend the final MotoGP round of the season in Valencia on October 29, partly to enjoy the race but also to continue to get his name and his face seen around.
Meanwhile, Darrell Healey confirmed that GSE Racing has already ordered from Ducati enough engines and parts to run a two-rider team in WSBK or BSB in 2007.
"Ducati has reached almost the end of development with the current 999 bike in terms of engine performance," he said. "Both ourselves and the factory will run revised F06 machines next year, in preparation for a new model that will replace the 999 in 2008."
That machine could be a 1,200cc machine if the Superbike series changes its rules to accommodate bigger V-twins.
Meanwhile, there are few riders with as many options open to them as they enter the winter re-shuffle period as Haslam.
http://www.crash.net/news_View~t~Haslam-po...8~id~138381.htm
NAKARS BETRAYED US! CURSE HIM!
