World Superbike News

Noriyuki Haga - Ducati Xerox 2009

The World Superbike series headed to France this weekend with Ben Spies and Noriyuki Haga sharing the wins at the Magny-Cours circuit.

Race One

It was Ben Spies on the Yamaha World Superbike that led into the first corner of race one with Max Biaggi, Jonathan Rea, Leon Haslam and Michel Fabrizio, all fighting for second place.

Rea on the Hanspree Ten Kate Honda passed the Aprilia of Biaggi going into the hairpin while Haga on the Ducati Xerox slipped past the Stiggy Honda of Haslam, but not for long as Haslam soon retook his position.

Tom Sykes crashed out on the fast, downhill section to Lycee at the Magny-Cours circuit on the second Yamaha World Superbike but managed to walk away from the accident.

With 19 laps of the race to run, Fabrizio put his Ducati Xerox ahead of Haslam to take fifth position while just two laps later, Jonathan Rea suffered some sort of technical problem and drove into the pit lane to retire.

Haga continued to hassle the Italian rider but couldn’t find a way past the Aprilia until on lap 17, Biaggi made the mistake of leaving a gap wide enough for Haga to get through and beginning to chase down the American, who by now had made a gap of 1.3 seconds.

With only 6 laps of the race remaining and Haga was realising that only a mistake by the Yamaha rider would see him in the lead,and unusually the error occurred with Spies running wide and letting Haga slip up the inside and at the front.  Spies soon retook his spot and cut up the inside at the corner exit.  The two riders were racing side-by-side heading down to Lycee but it was Spies who was first at the bend.

Biaggi took the final step of the podium finishing in third place ahead of Fabrizio in fourth and Stiggy Honda rider Leon Haslam in fifth.  In sixth place was Carlos Checa on the second Hanspree Ten Kate Honda, after qualifying in twelfth on the grid, followed by the Suzuki Alstare rider Yukio Kagayama in seventh, Shane Byrne on the Sterilgarda Ducati in eighth, Troy Corser on the BMW Motorrad in ninth and Jakub Smrz on the Guandalini Ducati in tenth.

Here are the results;

1. Ben Spies USA Yamaha WSB YZF R1 37mins 57.110secs 23 laps
2. Noriyuki Haga JPN Ducati Xerox 1198R +0.181s
3. Max Biaggi ITA Aprilia Racing RSV-4 +5.009s
4. Michel Fabrizio ITA Ducati Xerox 1198R +16.347s
5. Leon Haslam GBR Stiggy Motorsport Honda CBR1000RR +22.622s
6. Carlos Checa ESP HANNspree Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR +24.948s
7. Yukio Kagayama JPN Alstare Suzuki GSX-R 1000K9 +27.144s
8. Shane Byrne GBR Sterilgarda Ducati 1098R +27.578s
9. Troy Corser AUS BMW Motorrad S1000RR +28.486s
10. Jakub Smrz CZE Guandalini Racing Ducati 1098R +28.716s
11. Ruben Xaus ESP BMW Motorrad S1000RR +52.680s
12. Matteo Baiocco ITA Guandalini Racing Ducati 1098R +1min 01.372s
13. Luca Scassa ITA Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R +1min 05.123s
14. David Salom ESP Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10R +1min 05.483s
15. David Checa ESP Yamaha France GMT 94 YZF R1 +1min 05.672s

18. Leon Camier GBR Aprilia Racing RSV-4 20 laps completred
19. Sheridan Morais RSA Kawasaki SRT ZX-10R 13 laps completed
20. Fonsi Nieto ESP DFX Corse Ducati 1098R 12 laps completed
21. Broc Parkes AUS Kawasaki SRT ZX-0R 10 laps completed
22. Jonathan Rea GBR HANNspree Ten Kate Honda CBR1000 7 laps completed
23. Vittorio Iannuzzo ITA SCI Honda CBR1000RR 5 laps completed
24. Ryuichi Kiyonari JPN Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR 3 laps completed
25. Karl Muggeridge AUS Alstare Suzuki GSX-R 1000K9 3 laps completed
26. Tom Sykes GBR Yamaha WSB YZF R1 1 lap completed

Race Two

In race two it was Noriyuki Haga on the Ducati Xerox that took the chequered flag, with his eighth win of the season and now leads the championship by 10 points over the Yamaha World Superbike rider Ben Spies.

Haga took the lead from the start while Ben Spies struggled with his machine for the entire race.  After losing the lead to Haga, Max Biaggi was all over the Ducati, making a pass on lap 5 which Haga soon took back.  Biaggi then tried the same move again two laps later, running wide and allowing Jonathan Rea to slip through on the Hanspree Ten Kate Honda.

Rea was soon on the tail of the Ducati and the three top riders swapped places several times over the following laps.  The Hanspree Honda rider finally left enough of a gap to allow the Aprilia through and was forced wide as Biaggi retook his second place.

Ben Spies finished in fourth place followed by Leon Haslam, taking his second fifth position of the day for the Stiggy Honda team.  In sixth place was the Suzuki Alstare rider Yukio Kagayama ahead of Shane Byrne of the Sterilgarda Ducati, Karl Muggeridge on the second Suzuki Alstare, Carlos Checa on the Hanspree Ten Kate Honda and Troy Corser on the BMW Motorrad in tenth.

The two leading riders seemed a bit confused as they crossed the line, both Spies and Biaggi continued racing for another lap, oblivious that the race was over.

The British Superbike rider Leon Camier was denied a finish in both races for the Aprilia team after suffering technical difficulties with his machine.

Here are the results;

1. Noriyuki Haga JPN Ducati Xerox 1198R 38mins 00.282s 23 laps
2. Max Biaggi ITA Aprilia Racing RSV-4 +1.480s
3. Jonathan Rea GBR HANNspree Ten Kate Honda CBR1000 +6.024s
4. Ben Spies USA Yamaha WSB YZF R1 +18.135s
5. Leon Haslam GBR Stiggy Motorsport Honda CBR1000RR +21.236s
6. Yukio Kagayama JPN Alstare Suzuki GSX-R 1000K9 +23.647s
7. Shane Byrne GBR Sterilgarda Ducati 1098R +23.701s
8. Karl Muggeridge AUS Alstare Suzuki GSX-R 1000K9 +24.838s
9. Carlos Checa ESP HANNspree Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR +31.455s
10. Troy Corser AUS BMW Motorrad S1000RR +32.507s
11. Fonsi Nieto ESP DFX Corse Ducati 1098R +37.594s
12. Ruben Xaus ESP BMW Motorrad S1000RR +44.727s
13. Michel Fabrizio ITA Ducati Xerox 1198R +49.782s
14. Matteo Baiocco ITA Guandalini Racing Ducati 1098R +50.345s
15. Broc Parkes AUS Kawasaki SRT ZX-0R +56.209s

DNS Ryuichi Kiyonari JPN Ten Kate Honda CBR1000RR
DNS Flavio Gentile ITA Althea Honda CBR1000RR