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WSB : Haga ends R1's debut season in third
Round: 12 - France
Circuit: MagnyCours
Date: 9 October 2005
Crowd: 56000
Temp: 20ºC
Weather: Sunny
Yamaha Motor Italia star Noriyuki Haga ended his 2005 season on a high with a rostrum finish at Magny Cours today.
The Japanese star finished third in race two to end the season third in the world championship standings in the Yamaha YZF-R1's first season in the Superbike World Championship.
Earlier in the day Haga missed the chance to increase his run of eight consecutive podium finishes when he crashed out of the opening race, an innocent victim of some frantic opening laps that saw him fall after colliding with another rider. Nitro Nori hit back in race two with a race-long thrilling battle with fellow Japanese Yukio Kagayama (Suzuki). Kagayama got the better of the personal battle, but Haga's third place gave him the points needed to secure his bronze medal championship finish.
Team-mate Andrew Pitt had a tough race day after showing so much promise in practice. The Australian was involved in the battle for third place in race one, eventually finishing sixth, before being part of a huge five rider pile-up at the first turn of the second heat. With the accident causing the race to be stopped, Pitt was able to join the restart on his spare machine but was understandably detuned after the accident. Despite this, the Australian gave a typically gritty performance to work his way through to seventh place and retain his eighth place in the final championship table.
Yamaha Motor France teamsters Norick Abe and Sebastien Gimbert had mixed fortunes at their team's home race. Abe overcame a troubled qualifying session to take two top 10 finishes, although Gimbert was unable to replicate his impressive performances of 12 months ago and scored just one point for 15th in race one.
Today's races were won by Chris Vermeulen (Honda) and Lorenzo Lanzi (Ducati). Troy Corser (Suzuki) ended the year as world champion with Vermeulen second and Haga third. Magny Cours marked the end of Yamaha's first season since returning to the Superbike World Championship. Before the season Yamaha set a target of using the opening part of the season for development, with the goal of achieving podium finishes and race wins in the second half of the season. With Haga at the controls, the YZF-R1 was able to take 10 podium finishes from 23 races, including two wins - at Brno and Brands Hatch.
Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) "The first race was disappointing, especially because the crash was not my fault and I lost my run of podiums. The second was fun and I enjoyed making big fighting with Yukio. Almost every lap we touched each other - I think both of us are crazy! I am happy to finish third in the championship in the R1's first year in world superbikes. We have been strong in the second half of the season and we know what is needed to improve the bike so that it can be fighting for wins at every race next year."
Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Motor Italia) "It was a big crash at the start of race two and I can say that we don't think any bones are broken, but that's about it. Muggeridge and I clashed - I got a good start and he got a bad start and we both drifted over to the right to get a better line for the first corner. The bikes were wheelying and then I felt him touch the back of my bike and then it felt like something touched my brake lever. For the first couple of laps I was in a bit of a daze and going backwards. My head was pounding and my hands were hurting but after a few laps I was able to focus and work my way through to seventh. I thought I could have got on the podium in the first one, but we just didn't get there. "
Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator - Yamaha Motor Italia) "Andrew did incredibly well after such a big crash in the first start of race two. Fortunately he just took skin off his hands but I think that he did a good job in the circumstances. I am very happy that Noriyuki was able to finish third in our first year of the championship. We reached a target we set and I am satisfied - and proud of everybody involved. I would like to thank all of the team. We only started this project in October last year and everyone involved worked so hard to get us ready to race. These results are a reward for our hard work. Now we must look to next year. This will not be easy, but we know where we must improve and everyone is looking forward to the challenge."
Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France) "Yesterday everything went wrong and I could not ride smoothly. We had a lot of problems this weekend, but today everything went well, especially in the second race, the start went very well. We could do the same lap times as qualifying, so that was a good indication."
Sebastien Gimbert (Yamaha Motor France) "In race one we scored a point but it was very difficult. We had many problems with the fork, the clutch and under braking, not a good weekend."
Martial Garcia (Team Manager - Yamaha Motor France) "A bad end for us. Two times the clutch went on Sebastien's bike. I think he was very nervous to get good starts at his home race, so maybe he burned the clutch. The more he tried the worse it got. Norick was not so bad. He followed Pitt and made a good race so it was a good race day for him."
Race classification WSB
Round: 12 - France
Circuit: MagnyCours
Circuit Length: 4411
Lap Record: 1' 40.601 (Lorenzo Lanzi, 2005)
Fastest Lap Ever: 1' 39.836 (Chris Vermeulen, 2005)
