Can Haga stretch his points
lead with his first victory at Misano?
After the overseas double-header in South Africa and USA, the SBK Championship returns to European soil for the start of the second half of the 2009 season. Round 8 of 14 will be held this weekend at the Misano World Circuit. The circuit measures 4.226 km and has been the venue for 17 editions of the championship. It underwent a major restyling in 2007 with changes to the layout and sense of direction, which is now clockwise. Misano is a circuit where Ducati has always dominated. The Italian manufacturer has taken its twin-cylinder machines onto the podium 26 times in 34 races, leaving the other manufacturers with the crumbs: Honda 3 wins, Aprilia 2, Yamaha, Suzuki and Kawasaki 1.
Ben Spies' (Yamaha World Superbike) double at Miller has reopened the title battle, which after South Africa appeared to be heading the way of Noriyuki Haga (Ducati Xerox). The Japanese rider, bruised and battered in the Utah Round, still has a healthy lead over his rivals (53 points over the American and 64 over team-mate Michel Fabrizio), but is arriving at his 'bogey' circuit as he has never won there. In 18 appearances, Haga has only scored three podiums at Misano, his best being in 2007 when he finished runner-up in race 2 behind Bayliss, while in the first he ended up on the ground after a contact with Max Biaggi, while they were fighting for second place.
At Misano, Superbike can often produce some major upsets and the heat will surely have a major effect on men and machines. The outsiders this weekend include Max Biaggi (Aprilia Racing), who has been putting together a string of top 5 results recently. The RSV4 machine is getting closer to the top and the Italian will surely be a difficult opponent for everyone. The Noale manufacturer should bring some new material to Misano and Biaggi will be hoping to upset the applecart in front of his home fans.
The Honda riders are now emerging as front-runners as well after a difficult start to the season. Jonathan Rea, Ryuichi Kiyonari, Carlos Checa (Ten Kate) and Leon Haslam (Stiggy Racing) have all been on the podium at least once and the Miller race showed that the CBR 1000 RRs are not that far away from the level of Ducati and Yamaha. All eyes will in particular be on Rea, who is fast becoming a true contender. Progress is also being recorded by Kawasaki, who will enter American Jamie Hacking once again in place of the still convalescent Makoto Tamada as team-mate to Broc Parkes.
The Suzuki Alstare team will again be present at Misano without the injured Max Neukirchner, who is expected to be back for Brno at the end of July. The team's progress will continue to revolve around Yukio Kagayama, who is not exactly 100% fit after crashing in the USA, and Fonsi Nieto who is struggling to find the best possible feeling with the GSX-R 1000. Attention will also be focused on the BMW Motorrad team, which had a difficult time overseas, but the German squad has had an opportunity to analyze everything back in the factory workshop and both Corser and Xaus will be looking for improvements this weekend.
Noriyuki Haga - Ducati Xerox
The Misano track is very small and tricky with high-speed corners that require aggressive braking. I prefer the new layout but it remains nonetheless a difficult track for me, I don't really know why. It's always so hot there too, so the tyre choice really comes into play. Anyway, it will be good to be back in front of the Italian crowds, Misano has been the "home" race for Ducati in the last years so I'm sure it'll be crowded with Ducatisti! After a crash and the less than perfect results at the last round of Salt Lake, I plan to be back on form and fighting to win at Misano.
Michel Fabrizio - Ducati Xerox
Misano is not one of my favourite tracks as I've had a lot of bad luck there over the years and have never been able to get strong results. Having said that, the support of the fans there is always huge so I hope that this season they will spur me on to achieve my best ever Misano results! I'm back in third place in the championship but, after Salt Lake, me and Ben are extremely close now so I'll be looking to bring home as many points as possible from the track this weekend.
Ben Spies - Yamaha
It's great to be back in Italy again. It was awesome to be home for the Miller race last month, and a dream come true to win in front of my home crowd. Everything felt right at the weekend, I couldn't have been happier. I'm excited about getting on the track at Misano, it's another new circuit to learn which is cool. The Italian fans are amazing which will also make this a special race for us as a team. We need to do well here to keep the championship challenge alive, and I'm confident we can.
Tom Sykes - Yamaha
I'm very happy to put the US behind me. There's no denying we had a couple of issues but I think we're past it. We know everything works well on the bike and we have the pace to run at the front. I'm very much looking forward to Misano now, we've got a couple of things we want to try on the bike so let's hope it works and the track suits my riding style. I'm going in to the weekend feeling confident, I know the team can do a good job so if we can crack it we can get up there. I think this weekend will be the turning of the corner and setting me up for Donington and the rest of the season.
Broc Parkes - PBM Kawasaki
I'm feeling much fitter in myself after a few weeks break so I'm really looking forward to the Misano races. We left Miller feeling positive despite the results not really reflecting our bike development due to some bad luck but we know that the bike is getting better and better and our qualifying and race pace times are up there. I think the whole team is looking forward to some solid point scoring finishes and hopefully we can break back into the top ten.
Jamie Hacking - PBM Kawasaki
I'm delighted that the team has asked to me to fill in for Makoto for both the Misano and Donington races. I'm really looking forward to racing the bike again and working with the PBM Kawasaki WSB team. I was hoping we could finish in the top ten in both races at Miller but events in race two didn't go our way so I'm really looking forward to pushing myself to my full potential on the bike at Misano. I don't know the track but I'm confident that we can have some really decent results over the next few races.
Ruben Xaus - BMW Motorrd
Well, I won a race in Misano last year and of course it would be great to do that again, but this bike is new and we have a lot of work to do to put it on the podium this weekend. That’s not to say, it’s impossible, but the important thing is that we are improving the bike every time we go out on the track and as long as we are doing that, then my feeling is very positive. The bike has a lot of potential and it will not be that long before Troy, I and the team can show it.
Troy Corser - BMW Motorrd
It’s good I found out that there was a problem with my shoulder because I had the feeling something was wrong - especially as I couldn’t lift my right arm above my shoulder! I’m not sure if it was fully dislocated or what, but I do know that it wasn’t in the right place. When the doc started manipulating it, he told me that putting it back in the right place might be a painful, and he was right! But after that, we started working on massages and physio and it began to get better. It’s been good for the team to get the bikes back to the workshops and look at all the info from South Africa and USA. I am sure they will have some ideas about which direction we should take at Misano and I think we will start improving again and the results will follow.
Jonathan Rea - Hanspree Ten Kate Honda
After America, I had really good week at the TT, helping my friend Keith Amor, who got two podium finishes but was hit by mechanical failures in other races. It'll be really cool to go to Misano - it's a nice place to be and a good track that I enjoy riding and I was on the podium there in Supersport last year. I really need to work on improving my qualifying because in the last few races, we seem to have had the pace all weekend but then, for one reason or another, ended up off the front row after Superpole. I've not started from the front since Australia but, if you're not there, it makes the first lap really difficult. The bike development has been going in the right direction for me recently and that really motivates me and the rest of the crew to do the best job we can possibly do. We've just passed the halfway stage of the season and it's important to deliver consistently good results now and, at some point, take it up to the next level. There's still a gap to the guys ahead of us, but it's a gap that we've managed to reduce slightly and that's what we'll keep working on.
Carlos Checa - Hanspree Ten Kate Honda
I had a very nice experience at the Isle of Man TT, which I visited for the very first time. Although it was a bit boring waiting for the delayed Superbike race, I am glad I stayed to see it - it's a little bit crazy! It's also amazing to see the whole Island working for this event. There is some incredible Honda racing history there, because that's where it all started 50 years ago. It'll be good to get to Misano though - I like the circuit a lot, although we suffered from quite a bit of chatter there last year. It would be good to get back on the podium again, after the first race at Miller two weeks ago. The second race there was not so good but the feature of the circuit where I crashed is not something you find anywhere else. The important thing from the last race is that we had enough pace to fight for podium finishes. The bike felt really good and we want to carry that to Italy and through the second half of the season.
Ryuichi Kiyonari - Ten Kate Honda Racing
It was a little bit frustrating in America because the team worked so hard to give me a bike to put on the front row. We showed that we had the pace to run at the front but the problems that appeared only in the races did not allow us to do that. But I think we have made good progress in the last few weeks and I want to continue that in Misano by returning to the podium. The results there last season were not so good but, so far this year, things have been better when I return to a track that was new last year. As always I will try my best for a good result.
Fonsi Nieto - Alstare Suzuki Brux
Misano will be my third time on this bike and each time I go out on the track, the feeling gets better. The 2009 Suzuki is very different to the bike I rode last year, but I am getting very good support from the team and they are helping me understand this bike quickly. For sure, Misano will be hot and when that happens it seems that our bike is more sensitive to the conditions than the other bikes. But we have to just work hard and see what we can get. I hope that it will be better than last year, when I got a 12th and a 10th.
Yukio Kagayama - Alstare Suzuki Brux
Each day I get better and although my body will not be prefect in Misano, it will be a lot better then it was on raceday in Salt Lake City. This season has been a tough one for our team and it's not so common to have so many injuries, but we have to get on with and do the best we can. Last year my results at Misano were not wonderful (11th and 12th), so this year I wanted to do much better. Misano is not an easy track and if the weather is very hot, it is going to be a hard weekend for us all. But my job is to race and I want the best results I can get.
Leon Haslam - Stiggy Honda
I am looking forward to the Misano event this weekend, for me it is another circuit I have not been to before. It looks like a great track to me, and it will be another challenge to quickly learn the track and get the bike competitive. After returning from the US, I have spent some time in Italy with my engine company Oral. They have made some further improvements to our engines and I am looking forward to testing the hard work on the track this weekend.
John Hopkins - Stiggy Honda
Misano is a track I do like a lot. I had some decent results there in the past, and got on the podium in the 2007 MotoGP race. It is a circuit I enjoy well, and the audience is always great. People really take a liking towards the World Superbike series, and I expect the atmosphere to be similar to the one we received at the MotoGP races. It is going to be an exciting race and hopefully I can be out there from the start. Right now, I am not going to make any promises of running at the front of the field. I am just taking it step-by-step and focus on getting a good feeling with the bike again and set the best possible results for the team and myself.
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