Haslam bravely rides on

Leon Haslam rode through the pain barrier to set 15th-fastest time on his Honda for today's 500cc Dutch Grand Prix.

Haslam, returning from a broken wrist, kept team colours flying as his team-mate and fellow Briton Chris Walker crashed out during pre-qualifying practice.

Walker, suffering with a shoulder injury since the start of the season, had a spectacular crash in the second practice session, but although the session had to be stopped, he was lucky to escape with just bad bruising to his head. Another Briton, Jason Vincent, qualified 20th on the grid. The Italian Loris Capirossi beat countrymen Max Biaggi and Valentino Rossi to pole position.

Britain's Jeremy McWilliams made the front row of the grid for the 250cc race, with Japan's Tetsuya Harada fastest.