Haga doubles up at Kyalami

by Dave · May 18, 2009

Haga bounces back with a double win at Kyalami.

Noriyuki a double winner at Kyalami.

Noriyuki Haga has bounced back from his bird induced crash in Race 2 at Monza, with a pidgeon pair of wins at Kyalami, with the Japanese star now leading the championship by 85pts on his factory Ducati. Haga defeated teammate Michel Fabrizio in both 24-lap races,while championship rival Ben Spies manage a 3rd in race one, and a mechanical DNF in the second.

Haga now holds 39 World Superbike wins, the third best in the title’s 27-year history. Of the top 10 in that winners’ list, Haga and Italian Pierfrancesco Chili are the only riders who haven’t won a world superbike title, but Haga is doing his best to remedy that this year. As well as the wins, he has been a model of consistency,finishing on the podium 11 times out of 12 races so far in 2009.

After a tight scrap with Fabrizio and Ben Spies (Yamaha) in race one, Haga eventually scored a grinding 0.950sec victory on the technical and energy-sapping Kyalami layout. And in race two, despite the close checking of Fabrizio, he was always in control after the retirement of the hapless Spies with a broken gearshift linkage.

“In the first race, having had some suspension problems during Friday and Saturday, I have to say I didn’t expect to be able to keep pace with Michel and Ben,” said Haga. “But I made a good start and tried to stick with Michel and then when he appeared to have a small problem, I made my move.

“My arm was not a problem at all during the racing. I must say I was very glad to see there are less birds here at Kyalami than at Monza! In race two we made a small change to the setting of my bike and I felt more comfortable on it, but I knew that Michel was close behind me and in the last laps my braking was suffering, so I had to hold on and am very happy to take another 50pts away with me today and again increase my advantage in the standings.”

Meanwhile, with Spies out of luck for the second time in consecutive weeks – he would have won race one at Monza before running out of full on the last corner – he’s now lost second place in the title to Fabrizio. The Italian has moved to 165pts, three ahead of Spies (162pts). Haga is way out in front on 250pts, and well on his way to a maiden world title.

Leon Haslam (116pts) is in fourth, ahead of fellow Briton and Honda pilot Jonathan Rea (106pts), who scored his first podium for the year in race two. Max Biaggi was fifth in both Kyalami races, as Aprilia continues to impress in its return to world superbike competition.

Troy Corser was replaced by fellow Aussie Steve Martin on the BMW, after taking a rest from his battering at Monza, but it was another miserable weekend for BMW, which struggled without the experience of Corser. Martin was out of the points in22nd and 17th, albeit in a part “testing” role, while regular rider Ruben Xaus crashed both times.

Australia’s Broc Parkes ( Kawasaki) scored some points with 15-14 finishes, but was upstaged by his stand-in teammate, local rider Sheridan Morais (13-11).

“This was a difficult weekend after a top 10 at Monza,” Parkes said. “I struggled on the bike and with myself as I’m physically not as fit as I would like, and this track is a lot harder on your body than Monza.

“All in all I knew this was going to be a tough weekend, but we came away with some points for the team which I’m happy about. I could have taken the easy road and sat out these last two races to fully recover but we’ve been lucky that we’ve managed to score points in all races.

“I’m happy we’ve got a two week break before Miller so I can regain some strength and keep up the momentum of getting points and top 10 finishes.”

Karl Muggeridge (Suzuki) was 18th in the opener before crashing out of race two, while Adelaide’s Brendan Roberts wasn’t competing after also coming down hard at Monza.

WORLD SUPERSPORT… Australia’s Mark Aitchison third, as Eugene Laverty takes the win

World supersport was a boon for Irishman Eugene Laverty (Honda), who powered to a four-second lead by lap six, and from then on only had to meter his lead until the finish.

And he did that to perfection, scoring a runaway win from championship leader Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha) and Newcastle’s Mark Aitchison (Honda), who capitalised on some fairing bashing on the final lap between Kenan Sofuoglu (Honda) and Kawasaki’s Joan Lascorz.

It was the first world supersport podium for Atchison, who started from eighth on the grid.

“It was my luck that I was able to pass Sofuoglu and Lascorz in the last lap, but I actually put a couple of good laps down in the last few laps, and I was already hoping that I could bridge the gap to them,” said Aitchison. I hoped they might get in the way of each other and it worked out that way. Obviously you don’t want to get on the podium like that, but at the moment – I’ll take it.”

Gold Coast’s Andrew Pitt (Honda) was a distant sixth, struggling for grip and describing his race “like riding on ice”.

Pitt was followed home by compatriots Garry McCoy (Triumph) and Anthony West (Honda).

KYALAMI RESULTS

Superbike race one: 24 laps

1	Noriyuki Haga, Japan, Ducati	39:47.436
2	Michel Fabrizio, Italy, Ducati	+0.950
3	Ben Spies, America, Yamaha	+3.391
4	Jonathan Rea, Great Britain, Honda	+8.914
5	Max Biaggi, Italy, Aprilia	+9.019
6	Carlos Checa, Spain, Honda	+14.812
7	Shinya Nakano, Japan, Aprilia	+14.971
8	Yukio Kagayama, Japan, Suzuki	+15.723
9	Shane Byrne, Great Britain, Ducati	+21.529
10	Tom Sykes, Great Britain, Yamaha	+21.795
15	Broc Parkes, Australia, Kawasaki	+40.885
18	Karl Muggeridge, Australia, Suzuki	+49.702
22	Steve Martin, Australia, BMW	+ 2 laps

22 finishers, 2 DNFs

Fastest lap and founding record: Fabrizio – 1:38.548

Superbike race two: 24 laps

1	Haga	39:45.027
2	Fabrizio	+0.322
3	Rea	+8.936
4	Leon Haslam, Great Britain, Honda	+10.561
5	Biaggi	+10.767
6	Checa	+12.413
7	Nakano	+12.616
8	Kagayama	+14.878
9	Sykes	+16.225
10	Jakub Smrz, Czech Republic, Ducati	+18.197
14	Parkes	+38.747
17	Martin	+1:28.685
DNF	Muggeridge	+23 laps

19 finishers, 5 DNFs

Fastest lap: Haga – 1:38.577

Superbike standings (after round 6 of 14):

1	Haga	250
2	Fabrizio	165
3	Spies	162
4	Haslam	116
5	Rea	106
6=	Biaggi	103
6=	Sykes	103
8	Regis Laconi, France, Ducati	77
9	Max Neukirchner, Germany, Suzuki	75
10	Checa	73
17	Troy Corser, Australia, BMW	35
18	Parkes	20
23	Muggeridge	4
24	Brendan Roberts, Australia, Ducati	3

Supersport race: 23 laps

1	Eugene Laverty, Ireland, Honda	39:06.061
2	Cal Crutchlow, Great Britain, Yamaha	+2.546
3	Mark Aitchison, Australia, Honda	+17.358
4	Joan Lascorz, Spain, Kawasaki	+17.454
5	Kenan Sofuoglu, Turkey, Honda	+18.221
6	Andrew Pitt, Australia, Honda	+20.561
7	Garry McCoy, Australia, Triumph	+33.141
8	Anthony West, Australia, Honda	+37.326
9	Michele Pirro, Italy, Yamaha	+37.728
10	Matthieu Lagrive, France, Yamaha	+37.939
18	Russell Holland, Australia, Honda	+1:11.042