Haga win puts him back at the top

By Burning Rubber on Oct 4, 09 03:13 PM

SAMURAI of Slide Noriyuki Haga leads the World Superbike championship once again after a dominant win in Race Two at Magny Cours.

And as the Xerox Ducati rider took his 41st victory, title rival Ben Spies was only able to wrestle his Yamaha Racing machine to fourth place.

This now puts Haga back at the top of the points table with a 10 point advantage with just one round to go.

Haga took the lead from Max Biaggi halfway into the first lap, after the Roman Emperor got the best start and led into the first corner.

As Biaggi settled into second, a strong-looking Jonathan Rea on the Hannspree Ten Kate Honda got the jump up to third, leading Spies in fourth.

Nothing much was to change at the front as the 23-Lap race wore on. Rea, who initially looked like he had the fastest bike of all, endured several big battles with Max Biaggi, taking second place on Lap Seven, before setting off to catch Haga and challenge for the lead

But he was unable to make a pass, and eventually fell back into the clutches of Biaggi. More battling ensued, but he was unable to better his third position.

Luckily for him, Spies - who spent all of the race in fourth position - was clearly struggling with a technical problem and was never able to catch the top three, let alone make a challenge. hags2 blog.jpg

Haga admitted he will be sleeping better this week. "I am very pleased for sure, after the last race I could hardly sleep at night thinking about it.

"But my chief engineer made a good setting for Race Two and I had a really good feeling going out there for it. I'm very happy now and looking forward to going to Portimao in the lead." Biaggi Donington 09.jpg

Proud new dad Max Biaggi - doing his bit to disprove the theory that you lose a second when you father a child - was all smiles to land his second podium of the day, after finishing third in Race One.

"I'm very happy as you can see," he said. " I had a very hard race, from the beginning everyone was fast, all the top five had a good rhythm. I followed Nori and he looked very confident - looking at his lap times I wonder if he had even more saved for the end.

"But it has been a good day, two podiums and the Aprilia is getting better and better now each race."

Race Two Result:

1 41 Haga N. (JPN) Ducati 1098R 38'00.282 (160,169 kph)
2 3 Biaggi M. (ITA) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 1.480
3 65 Rea J. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 6.024
4 19 Spies B. (USA) Yamaha YZF R1 18.135
5 91 Haslam L. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 21.236
6 71 Kagayama Y. (JPN) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 23.647
7 67 Byrne S. (GBR) Ducati 1098R 23.701
8 31 Muggeridge K. (AUS) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 24.838
9 7 Checa C. (ESP) Honda CBR1000RR 31.455
10 11 Corser T. (AUS) BMW S1000 RR 32.507
11 10 Nieto F. (ESP) Ducati 1098R 37.594
12 111 Xaus R. (ESP) BMW S1000 RR 44.727
13 84 Fabrizio M. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 49.782
14 15 Baiocco M. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 50.345
15 23 Parkes B. (AUS) Kawasaki ZX 10R 56.209
16 25 Salom D. (ESP) Kawasaki ZX 10R 58.796
17 94 Checa D. (ESP) Yamaha YZF R1 1'00.391
18 88 Resch R. (AUT) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 1'20.777
19 132 Morais S. (RSA) Kawasaki ZX 10R 1'24.318
RET 22 Camier L. (GBR) Aprilia RSV4 Factory
RET 99 Scassa L. (ITA) Kawasaki ZX 10R
RET 96 Smrz J. (CZE) Ducati 1098R
RET 77 Iannuzzo V. (ITA) Honda CBR1000RR
RET 66 Sykes T. (GBR) Yamaha YZF R1