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WSB Qatar: Haga and Spies Open Points Gap

By Mike Nicks

Noriyuki Haga and Ben Spies look like making the battle for the 2009 World Superbike Championship a two-man shootout after both edged away from rivals in today’s two races in Qatar.

Haga holds onto the lead with 85 points after having to accept two second places on his Ducati Xerox. But Spies has closed the gap to just ten points after his two victories on the Yamaha R1.

The 33-year-old Haga visibly looked dejected as he climbed from his bike at the end of a hot day’s work in the desert, and said later: “Ben is ten years younger than me, and that’s why I lose.”

It was difficult to know whether the Japanese rider was joking or being serious, but it must be irksome to Haga to know that he abandoned the Yamaha ride just before their devastating new R1 engine arrived, and when the factory appears to have solved its previous tyre wear problems.

“In the first race we lacked a bit of acceleration, but I put my head down in race two and tried to close up and keep the same rhythm going,”

Spies said. “I just put my head down for ten fast laps and was able to open up a gap.”

Max Neukirchner holds third place in the championship table on his Alstare Suzuki with 40 points, but Max Biaggi is now close behind him with 38 points on the Aprilia, and Britons Leon Haslam and Tom Sykes hold fifth and sixth places.

Source: http://www.motorcyclenews.com

Haslam: Ben Spies is a class act

Leon Haslam expects this year's World Superbike Championship fight to come down to a head-to-head between Ben Spies and Noriyuki Haga, the Stiggy rider branding the American rookie a 'class act'.

Spies has taken the World Superbike Championship by storm in the first two rounds of the series, winning three races to be ten points behind Haga heading to the first of the European rounds in Valencia.

Although the pair are the antithesis of each other in terms of experience, Haslam nonetheless anticipates the title fight to come down to a tight exchange between the Yamaha and Ducati riders.

Comparing the top level of AMA Superbikes to that of the British Superbike Championship having himself scored a podium on his debut with his privateer Honda team in Australia, Haslam thinks Spies' achievements have made his own participation in the world series all the more enjoyable.

“Ben is a class act, there is no doubt about that,” he told Crash.net. “I have always thought that the top of AMA and the top of BSB is tough. Shakey proved in Portugal that he has the pace, plus with me on the podium in Australia, it shows how strong the competition is.

“Yamaha have a fantastic package this year and have a lot of experience, as have Ducati and Suzuki, but for Ben to then come in at circuits he doesn't know on a new bike, he is doing a fantastic job.

“He is on fire and it is going to be an exciting season between him and Haga, but everyone is so close too – this makes it all the more exciting for me to be out battling with those guys!

With European rounds now approaching, Haslam says he is settling back into the 'professional' surroundings of the World Superbike paddock, even if he looking forward to taking his creature comforts with him to Spain.

“The World Superbike paddock has always been fantastic,” he added. “It is such a high class of riders and everything is really professional. But I am looking forward to Europe where I can get to use my own motorhome and have my own base”

Haslam is currently fifth in the World Superbike standings after managing a pair of 11th place finishes in Qatar.

Source:
http://www.crash.net

Nakano jumps forward during 'excellent weekend'

Former 250, 500 and MotoGP star Shinya Nakano claimed a fourth place finish in only his second WSBK event, in Qatar race one on Saturday.

While team-mate Max Biaggi grabbed the Aprilia headlines with a double podium at Losail, rookie Nakano showed excellent potential by finishing one place behind the Roman in the first outing.

''I am satisfied,” said Nakano after race one. “It is only my second WSBK event and already I've got a good result. I got away well at the start and remained in the lead group for the first half of the race, then they broke away so I just concentrated on defending my fourth position. Checa finally overtook me during the last few turns, but he made a mistake and I was able to get the place back.”

The second race saw Nakano once again get a good start, only to lose ground after contact. A fight-back brought the Japanese up to sixth, but the position was snatched from him by Alstare Suzuki's Max Neukirchner right at the line.

Nevertheless, Nakano finished an improved 9.5sec behind race winner Ben Spies - compared with 12sec in race one - and was also two seconds closer to team-mate Biaggi.

''I got a good start again but after a few corners I made contact with another rider and lost ground,” explained Shinya, who had qualified in sixth. “I had to push very hard to recover. I managed to get up to sixth place, but I had lost touch with the leaders.

“Towards the end Neukirchner caught up with me and we had a duel right to the line, which he won by just a few centimeters. But it's been an excellent weekend, we have improved a lot since Phillip Island and Biaggi showed the potential of the RSV4.

“Now we go to Valencia, where I made my debut on the bike, although the bike has changed so much since then that I don't think I'll have much of an advantage.”

Nakano had finished 15th and 12th on his WSBK debut at Phillip Island.

Source:
http://www.crash.net

Haslam: Hopkins arrival is exciting

Leon Haslam has expressed his excitement at the arrival of new Stiggy Racing team-mate John Hopkins saying his arrival will be positive for himself, the team and the series.

Haslam has made a fine start to his season with the Swedish outfit, managing a podium first time out in Australia, while the Honda rider currently sits fifth in the overall standings after four races.

However, having seen off former 250GP frontrunner Roberto Rolfo, Haslam will now be disputing the role of team leader with MotoGP rider Hopkins after the American was confirmed with the team yesterday.

Nonetheless, Haslam is not considering Hopkins' arrival as a threat, but is instead treating it as a chance to measure himself against one of the world's foremost riders.

“John Hopkins is a great rider,” he told Crash.net. “I know him pretty well, he lived close to me and I've trained with him too. He was awesome on the Suzuki and although he didn't have the best of years on the Kawasaki, there is no doubt that he is a class act rider. To have him on the other side of the garage is really exciting.”

“To beat him can only be a good thing for me because he is a world class rider. When John comes on board I think he will want to be fighting for the championship and his arrival will probably give the team a little extra motivation to step up as well.”

With Hopkins keen to capitalise on the new wave of American interest in the series following Ben Spies' remarkable start to his rookie campaign, Haslam believes his arrival is another major boost for the championship.

“It will be good to have him in the series. It is going from strength to strength and bringing people like that in will only make things better – he is another character.”

Source:
http://www.crash.net

Triumph Team Edging Closer To The Top Slot

Honda and Yamaha are the long-term powers in World Supersport racing but Garry McCoy and Gianluca Nannelli from the Triumph Team ParkinGo Be1 Racing squad are all set to challenge for honours this season.

McCoy had a fantastic ride from 20th place on lap 1 of the recent Losail race to an eventual ninth, consistently lapping inside the leading riders' average pace of 2'03.

Had McCoy not been involved in a first lap melee he could well have challenged for a podium finish, rather than leading a three rider group home in seventh place, 9.5 seconds from the win. Nannelli had an even more interrupted Losail race and finished 19th, losing ten seconds and five places on the final lap.

Said McCoy after his Losail experience, "I'm very satisfied with today's race but not with the result. I finished the race at only nine seconds from the winner and I know I could have fought for the podium if I hadn't been hit at the first corner. We're getting better and better and I'm confident that very soon we'll have great results. After today's result I'm sure we're going to score a podium in the near future."

Source: http://www.worldsbk.com

Hopkins joins Stiggy Racing Honda

John Hopkins will become the second American rider in this year's Superbike World Championship when he lines up for the Stiggy Racing Honda team at the third round in Valencia on April 5^th.

Hopkins, who was due to race for the Kawasaki MotoGP team this season before the change in the Japanese manufacturer's plans at the start of the year, replaces Italian Roberto Rolfo alongside Leon Haslam in the Swedish-based team.

The 25 year-old from Ramona in southern California finished fourth in the 2007 MotoGP championship with four podiums to his name on a factory Suzuki, before joining Kawasaki in 2008.

Hopkins is now fully focused on the rest of the 2009 season and is looking forward to making his World Superbike debut in Valencia.

Source:
http://www.worldsbk.com

Hopkins targets race wins for Stiggy in rookie WSB year

WSB newcomer John Hopkins has targeted race wins for his first year in the Superbike World Championship with the privateer Stiggy Racing Honda squad. The 25 year-old Anglo-American, who steps into this year's series in the third round at Valencia in place of Roby Rolfo, will get a first chance to try the Swedish team's Honda CBR1000RR at the Almeria circuit in Spain on March 30, one week before the Spanish round of the championship at Valencia.

"I am really excited to get back out on the track and have nothing but good expectations" declared Hopkins. "I have been watching SBK over the past few years and the series is always very exciting. Each year, it keeps growing and growing and drawing more and more attention. The racing season seems a lot tighter than in MotoGP. The machines seem more evenly matched so, all and all, I am just really excited to get started. Right from the start, in the first race, Leon showed that the bike could be put on the podium.

"The Stiggy Racing Honda has already proved that it is competitive and I would just like to adapt to it as quickly as possible. I want to be able to run at the front right from the get-go. My goal is to accumulate as many wins and podiums as possible. I am looking forward to the experience and riding all the new tracks. I would like to thank my sponsors for standing by me this season, and I would like to thank Stiggy Racing Honda for giving me the opportunity to go racing in such a competitive series!"