World Superbikes: Round 6, Race 2 Results
Haga Doubles as Spies DNF’s Again
Noriyukia Haga took his 39th career World Superbike win with his victory in the 2nd race of the Kyalami round of the Championship. His young team-mate, Michel Fabrizio, took another second place although not before challenging the series leader twice on the last lap. Ben Spies retired with a gearshift problem making yet another DNF for the Texan.
Noriyuki Haga led home his team-mate Michel Fabrizio to the flag in race 2, giving the Ducati Xerox team a perfect double 1-2 weekend. This time round the Japanese rider led for 23 of the 24 laps and he has now pulled out a large lead in the points table. Once again Fabrizio was the man on his tail, the Italian livening up proceedings on the final lap with a couple of passes on his team-mate, but twice Haga came back to clinch his sixth win of the season. Lap 3 saw the demise of Ben Spies (Yamaha World Superbike), whose R1 machine entered the pits with a gear shift problem. The Texan has now been overtaken in the championship by Fabrizio and is 88 points behind Haga. Jonathan Rea scored his first ever WSBK podium, the youngster from Northern Ireland ending a positive weekend with a third place. Rea calmly held off the pressure from fellow-Brit Leon Haslam (Stiggy Racing Honda), who had crashed out of race 1 but who in turn managed to keep Max Biaggi (Aprilia) at bay. Once again the Italian RSV4 machine showed no lack of top speed, Biaggi clocking an impressive 255 km/h. Team-mate Shinya Nakano picked up another positive seventh place on the second Aprilia, behind Carlos Checa (Hannspree Honda) and ahead of Yukio Kagayama (Suzuki Alstare). A ninth place for Yamaha was earned by Tom Sykes, while South African Sheridan Morais took the leading Kawasaki to eleventh place in front of his home crowd. BMW had a another race to forget, with no points recorded by either Ruben Xaus and Steve Martin.
link: Official World SBK Site
World Superbike Championship Round 6,Kyalami – Race 2 Results
1. Haga N. (JPN) Ducati 1098R 39’45.027 (153,816 kph)
2. Fabrizio M. (ITA) Ducati 1098R 0.322
3. Rea J. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 8.936
4. Haslam L. (GBR) Honda CBR1000RR 10.56
5. Biaggi M. (ITA) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 10.767
6. Checa C. (ESP) Honda CBR1000RR 12.413
7. Nakano S. (JPN) Aprilia RSV4 Factory 12.616
8. Kagayama Y. (JPN) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 14.878
9. Sykes T. (GBR) Yamaha YZF R1 16.225
10. Smrz J. (CZE) Ducati 1098R 18.197
11. Morais S. (RSA) Kawasaki ZX 10R 20.629
12. Lavilla G. (ESP) Ducati 1098R 24.320
13. Kiyonari R. (JPN) Honda CBR1000RR 24.564
14. Parkes B. (AUS) Kawasaki ZX 10R 38.747
15. Nieto F. (ESP) Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9 50.045
Rider Comments
Noriyuki Haga: “We get some good points this weekend and I really enjoyed battling with Michel in the second race. We changed a little bit the setting from the first race and that feeling was a bit better, but at some point it got worse. On the last lap I saw Michel do harder braking than me, and of course I took the wrong line but I was able to open the gas and get to the line first.”
Michel Fabrizio: “It was a very good weekend. Yesterday I was second by one thousandth, today by one curve! The race was really good, I tried right until the very end. Maybe I did the wrong thing by telling Nori where I was strong in race 1 because he pushed harder than me in that sector. On the last lap, if he hadn’t been my team-mate I would have given him a push with the shoulder! But I’m happy, I’m second in the championship and that’s a good thing.”
Jonathan Rea: “It’s gone really well. I have to thank all of my crew for making a big effort after the slow start to the season. They upped the development and now everything’s fallen into place. I felt very good today and when the bunch behind caught me I thought I had to get third straight away and have some reserve at the end.”
Haga now has a commanding lead in the series with a 85 point, more than 3 race victories lead over team-mate Michel Fabrizio who has passed Ben Spies for second. Ben Spies is 3rd a further 3 points further back. The next event is Ben Spies’ home race as the teams come to Miller Motorsport Park for the USA round on May 31st.
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