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WSB : Haga wins second heat
Round: 8 - Brands Hatch
Circuit: Brands Hatch
Date: 7 August 2005
Crowd: 103000
Temp: 22ºC
Weather: Dry
Noriyuki Haga was the star of the show at Brands Hatch today, taking his second win of the season in a thrilling second race that saw .
The two 25-lap races proved to be two-men shows, with Haga and championship leader Troy Corser (Suzuki) constantly swapping places as they dominated both affairs. Corser took the honours by less than two-tenths of a second in the opener, but Haga gained his revenge in the second after holding off a late challenge that saw Corser run across the gravel on the final lap.
Haga delighted the crowd with his spectacular riding style. The Japanese, now looking totally comfortable on his R1, showed amazing confidence in his front suspension as he braked deep into the corners in a spectacular race one duel, which was decided when Corser gained superior drive as they came out of out final corner for the penultimate time. Race two was equally dramatic, with Haga narrowly avoiding a crash as the pair accidentally touched as they crossed the line in the early laps. From then on, the race was one of tension as Corser stalked the Yamaha rider throughout - his move on the final lap resigning him to second place.
Team-mate Andrew Pitt had two strong races at Brands. The Australian qualified alongside Haga on the second row of the grid and made to good starts to run with the group battling for third place, taking a seventh place in race one and improving to sixth in the second outing.
Yamaha Motor France riders Norick Abe and Sèbastien Gimbert had a difficult day in Brands. Abe made two lightning starts but struggled due to a lack of track knowledge, finishing 11th in the opener and retiring after crashing with Steve Martin (Petronas) in the second. Gimbert bagged two points for 14th in race two.
The results see both Yamaha Italia riders move up the championship table. Haga's 45 point haul takes him to fifth, just five points behind countryman Yukio Kagayama (Suzuki), who occupies fourth, while Pitt moves up to ninth. Championship leader Troy Corser (Suzuki) left the United Kingdom with an improved advantage. He leads second placed Chris Vermeulen (Honda) by 110 points. Abe slides back to tenth in the standings.
The championship now makes a four week break before the Dutch round takes place at Assen, where Haga is scheduled to make his 150th world superbike appearance, and his 100th for Yamaha.
Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) "I had two fantastic races with Troy. In the second I led almost from the first lap to finish. Early on I tried to make a distance on him early but it was impossible. Later I tried some more crazy hard braking but still I could not make the gap. Unfortunately for Troy he made a mistake and when I see that I have a very big smile in my helmet! I would like to thank my team and also Ohlins and Pirelli, because today the bike was very good. Now I go back to Japan for more holidays and when I come back I hope we have some more Nitro for Assen!""
Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Motor Italia) "I enjoy the circuit and we just hardly touched it at all weekend as it felt good from the first session. After two bad races in Misano and Brno it's been good to be running consistently at the front this weekend. Now I need to improve my consistency a little bit. I can do the same lap times as Noriyuki but he is able to do them throughout the race, while my times are not as consistent. I'm also still learning more about the Pirelli tyres but I'm glad to have got a good weekend here and look forward to Assen - a track which holds good memories for me."
Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France) "This track is very difficult and this year I have so many new circuits and I not so good at the new ones. Our race lap times were much better than our practice times so we worked well, but it was still not enough to get to the front. In race two I had bad luck with Martin. He ran wide, so I went inside, but he came back in and we fell."
Sebastien Gimbert (Yamaha Motor France) "In race two we had more grip and rear traction so we made better times. I am happier about race two, scored some points, but we took a long time to make a good setting."
Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator - Yamaha Motor Italia) "Our bike is going up in performance and we are really happy with the development. Already this week we will be testing something different, some parts that were ready for this race but unfortunately arrived too late. It was good to see Andrew back with a smile on his face and he rode aggressively and did not make any mistakes this weekend. After the first race Noriyuki said that he wanted to win the second race, and that he would have to change the set-up if he was to beat Corser. So we changed the final drive ratio and front springs. These were not small changes but Nori is always seeing things to change and normally they prove correct decisions."
Martial Garcia (Team Manager - Yamaha Motor France) "Sebastien was one second faster than compared to last year, but so was everyone else, so the gap is still the same. Anyway, we found good setting but in the second race. In the first race we still had some problems. One of the problems is that Sebastien still has some pain in the leg so it was difficult to get good information. Our weekend was not too bad, except for the bad luck suffered by Norick with his crash."
Race classification WSB
Round: 8 - Brands Hatch
Circuit: Brands Hatch
Circuit Length: 4197
Lap Record: 1' 26.755 (Shane Byrne, 2003)
Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 26.248 (Shane Byrne, 2003)
