World Superbike stars take to the water

From the World Superbike Championship

LOSAIL, QATAR - The second round of the Hannspree FIM Superbike World Championship, due to take place in Qatar this weekend, had a watery prologue on Wednesday as seven top riders took the offshore boats of the Qatar Powerboat Team around the Corniche bay area of the capital, Doha.

Noriyuki Haga (Ducati), Ben Spies (Yamaha), Max Biaggi (Aprilia), Max Neukirchner (Suzuki), Troy Corser (BMW), Jonathan Rea (Honda) and Broc Parkes (Kawasaki) were all invited by Sheikh Hassan Al Thani, Qatar Marine Sports Federation President and Class 1 offshore champion on board two Nor-Tech Mercury 36’ catamarans for a different kind of speed trip, this time on water, in the build-up to Saturday’s WSBK round.

“It wasn’t my first time onboard this kind of boat but it was quite exciting," declared Phillip Island race 1 winner Haga (Ducati Xerox). “I’m thinking I want to buy this kind of boat but it’s just to throw away for the money and I need to check with my wife first. As for this weekend’s race, Ducati have good experience and settings for here, now I have started the season well from the first round so we will see from here in the next races.”

“We knew we had the pace to battle at Phillip Island, not necessarily to win, but it was important to get the first win out of the way,” commented Spies (Yamaha World Superbike). “I’ve kind of been like trying to prove myself on Superbikes for quite a long time, so my win in Australia felt like it had been a long time coming. Qatar is a track where I’ve never turned a wheel on. It seems OK, I’ll just have to go out and learn it.”

“Phillip Island was high performance on qualifying, nobody expected to see us on the front row and fighting for pole position until the end,” said Biaggi (Aprilia Racing). “But something at the moment is still a bit ‘raw’ and we need to find the right conditions to make it ‘well done’ and explore different ways to go for development. At the moment we’re in early stages."

The Qatar Round of the HANNspree Superbike World Championship takes place from Thursday through Saturday. World Supersport and World Superbike free practice and qualifying take place on both days, with WSBK Superpole scheduled for Friday. The two 18-lap Superbike races are scheduled to run on Saturday with the 18-lap Supersport race in between.