Noriyuki Haga put himself firmly in the World Superbike championship picture with a superb double win at the Nurburgring. A thrilling battle in the rain between the Japanese rider and his Yamaha team-mate Troy Corser was brought to a premature end by the red flags. Corser was leading the second race as the flags came out, but with the count-back rule the race was deemed finished after lap 15, at which point Haga was ahead of the Australian rider. The victory was made even more special by the fact that two weeks ago Haga broke his collarbone in three places in a practice crash in Salt Lake City.
Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha) ha dominato la settima prova del Mondiale Superbike al Nurburgring (Germania) ma Troy Bayliss (Ducati) con due piazzamenti – secondo e quarto – consolida il primato in campionato dopo il triplice passo falso che aveva riportato sotto gli inseguitori. Max Biaggi, caduto nel warm up, parte acciaccato e finisce solo 13°. Poi si riscatta con il settimo posto nella manche conclusiva: con la Ducati privata è impossibile fare miracoli.
Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team rider Noriyuki Haga could not have had two bigger contrasts in his raceday at Valencia, taking a superb win in the second 23-lap contest, but crashing out of the opener at high speed.
His team-mate Troy Corser was rewarded for a consistent first race ride with a podium finish in third, and then went on to score a fighting fifth in race two.
Corser’s podium came in a race where 20 riders finished and there were many high profile incidents. Corser was a lonely third eventually, some seven seconds from the win. Haga crashed out of race one, losing the front at the first corner on lap four as he tried to make up for qualifying 10th in Superpole.
In race two Haga led for the second half of the race, and his margin of victory over championship leader Troy Bayliss was 1.551 seconds. Corser, who had been pushing hard throughout and got tangled up with Ruben Xaus for some time, found it impossible to keep his early pace and finished eight seconds from his team-mate.
Il pilota italiano Lorenzo Lanzi si e’ imposto in gara-1 del Gran Premio di Valencia, terza prova stagionale del Mondiale Superbike. Il pilota azzurro, in sella alla Ducati 1098 RS 08, ha approfittato dello scontro che ha visto protagonisti all’ultima curva il tedesco Max Neukirchner e lo spagnolo Carlos Checa: i due piloti hanno dato vita ad un ultimo giro ricco di emozioni, prima della caduta avvenuta a pochi metri dalla bandiera a scacchi. Lanzi ha preceduto al traguardo gli australiani Troy Bayliss e Troy Corser. Solo 16esimo Max Biaggi.
Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha YZF-R1) ha vinto gara 2 a Valencia nel terzo appuntamento del Mondiale di Superbike. Haga ha preceduto di 1”551 l’australiano Troy Bayliss (Ducati F08) e di 2”903 lo spagnolo Carlos Checa. Nono posto per Max Biaggi (Ducati RS08). Lorenzo Lanzi (Ducati RS08), che aveva vinto gara-1, ha chiuso invece dodicesimo. Race 1:
