Third Times a Charm for Haga at Miller?
After a disastrous start to the season for the Xerox Ducati World Superbike team and in particular Noriyuki Haga, Miller Motorsports Park, site of the next round of the championship this weekend offers the next opportunity for the team to turn things around. It won’t be easy as Miller has some particularly bad memories for Nori-san.
Although he has finished 3 out of the 4 races held at Miller since the circuit was included for the 2008 season, it has not been a lucky place for the Sultan of Slide. In 2008, Haga crashed out of 4th place in the first race after already breaking his collarbone in 3 places during practice! Amazingly this was the first broken bone of his long and spectacular racing career! More amazing still he managed to place 6th in race two before getting surgery on the shoulder.
Last year he had a spectacular crash in practice that left his back battered and bruised but the tough Japanese still managed 8th and 9th in the races. He bounced back to 5th and 2nd in Misano and took 3rd in the first race at Donnington Park only for it to go all wrong in the second race where he crashed and put a serious dent in his championship hopes. Ben Spies ultimately won the 2009 title before moving onto MotoGP this season.
Nevertheless Nitro Nori is looking to put all this behind him as he tries to salvage his 2010 season. He currently lies 6th in the championship standings.
“I’ve had some bad luck at Salt Lake and so I can’t say it’s my favourite track. Two years ago I broke my collarbone and then I crashed again there last year, hurting my back which made the races difficult. I hope we can do better at Miller this season as we need to make up lost ground at this point.”
link: Superbike Planet
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