Haga takes win number two

From Yamaha Racing

Noriyuki Haga overcame some early weekend set-up issues to power his way to a superb race two win for his Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team at their home track of Monza on Sunday.

Having already scored second in the first race this was Haga's best weekend of the year so far and pushed him further up the championship table. He now sits third overall, on 112 points.

In the first race Haga pushed hard in the early laps, taking the new lap record of 1:45.882, beating his previous 2007 record as he brought himself forward to join what had been a breakaway trio of eventual winner Max Neukirchner, Yukio Kagayama and eventual third place rider Troy Bayliss.

Haga was in contention for race two almost from the start, taking the lead over the line on lap three, and after some close action riding with Neukirchner and Ryuichi Kiyonari, he held Kiyonari off over the line, with Neukirchner second, by only 0.009 seconds.

"In the first race I tried to ride 100% but the feel was not really there," Haga said. "We had a team meeting and we altered the chassis settings and suspension for race two. We got a better feeling and I could push everywhere. I could not calculate for the last few laps, I just knew I had to keep in front of everyone. On the last lap I tried to brake hard into the last corner and then passed Kiyonari."

Troy Corser had a tough weekend at Monza, starting well in race one but slowly dropping back to 12th. In race two he was in more competitive form but a close moment under braking with another rider saw him run wide at the first chicane and lose places. He finished eighth, and is now sixth overall, on 101 points.

Team YZF Yamaha rider Shinichi Nakatomi was 13th in race one and 12th in race two, in two 18-lap contests with a host of non-finishers. This was also Nakatomi's best race of the 2008 season so far.

Sebastien Gimbert (Yamaha GMT94) scored points in each race, posting 15th and 14th places.

The team's stand in rider Michel Beck acquitted himself well, finishing race one 19th and race two 15th, scoring a point in only his second ever WSB Championship race.