Two fourths for Haga in Australia

WSB : Two fourths for Haga in Australia Round: 2 - Australia Circuit: Phillip Island Date: 5 March 2006 Crowd: 55000 Temp: 25ºC Weather: Sunny Yamaha Motor Italia rider Noriyuki Haga battled traction problems to grab a brace of fourth places at round two of the Superbike World Championship at the Phillip Island circuit in Australia. The popular Japanese rider rode hard in the day's two 22-lap races to score 26 valuable points over the two races. Haga had run at the front of the day's opening race but faded when his rear traction reduced at around half-distance. Despite running a somewhat lonely fifth for most of the race, the 31-year-old continued to ride hard to pass a fading Troy Bayliss (Ducati) and fend off a late charge from Roberto Rolfo (Ducati). Race two saw Haga make some further suspension changes to lead a thrilling battle at the front with Bayliss, James Toseland (Honda), Alex Barros (Honda), Troy Corser (Suzuki) and Yamaha Motor Italia team-mate Andrew Pitt. A nasty crash for Corser saw the Yamaha riders take avoiding action and let Bayliss and Toseland build a gap. The Yamaha pair was able to stay in touch with Barros in the battle for third but the lack of traction saw them settle for fourth and fifth place at the flag. Pitt was made to pay for an incorrect tyre choice in race one. The Australian chose a harder compound Pirelli tyre, which stopped him running at the same pace as the leaders in the opening laps. Stuck in a thrilling mid-pack battle for most of the race, he ended the race a subdued ninth. For race two he chose the same softer compound tyre as his rivals and was able to run with the leaders, eventually finishing fifth, just behind Haga. The Yamaha Motor France squad had a difficult weekend in Australia. Still running their 2005-specification engines, the team's only points came from former MotoGP rider Norick Abe, who took 12th in race two. Fellow Japanese rider Shinichi Nakatomi crashed out of race one, before continuing his world superbike education with 19th in race two. The team's third rider, Frenchman Sebastien Gimbert, retired from the opener with set-up problems before following home Nakatomi in 20th place in race two. Race one was won by Corser after a race long fight with Barros. Toseland finished third. Bayliss had led the opener by six seconds after obliterating the lap record on lap two. However, the Australian dropped back to eventually finish six, behind Haga and Rolfo. He gained revenge in race two, winning comfortably from Toseland, with Barros taking another podium in third. Bayliss now leads the championship on 75 points, one ahead of Toseland. Pitt leads the Yamaha riders, in fifth place with 45 points, with Haga sixth on 42 points. Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) "I tried to push hard in both races but unfortunately at the end the tyre is gone and this means I cannot open the throttle and turn the bike properly in both races. The performance of the bike is very good at the beginning of the race but unfortunately after seven or eight laps the performance drops off quite a lot." Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Motor Italia) "In the first race I used a different type of rear tyre to most of the other riders and it did not work all that well in the early stages of the race. We used a different compound rear tyre for the second race and this meant that I was at least able to get away at the start, although the consistency is still not there over the race distance." Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France) "From race one to race two we got on a little bit better, because we changed a lot of settings. We had no grip at the end of race one, sliding all the time, and lots of chatter as well. My lap times were into the 1:36s; slower than I expect. In the second race it was better but our engine was not fast this weekend so I could only follow other riders and had to catch up in the corner entries. Finally I got a 12th in race two, so we scored some points." Shinichi Nakatomi (Yamaha Motor France) "We did not have the grip from the rear we wanted and that held my lap times back. It was a very difficult weekend. I pushed hard in the first race and lost the front end trying to pass another rider. We finished race two, but to score no points is disappointing." Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator - Yamaha Motor Italia) "It has not been an easy weekend for us but in the end we have scored some good points for the championship. There is less grip here than in Qatar and both our riders have struggled for traction all weekend. We did not test at Phillip Island over the winter and although we found a little bit more today, it wasn't quite enough to allow us to run at the very front. There are a few other low grip circuits like this and we must work hard to improve our performances at these kind of tracks." Martial Garcia (Team Manager - Yamaha Motor Italia) "A very bad day. We had many chassis set-up problems, and we did not find the same grip we had in January, when we were very happy with the settings. I think we did not make a good job, because we did not find a good solution. Phillip Island is a special circuit and a lot depends on weather. We have some tests before the next race and we will use our new engine, which is more powerful. Abe is mentally very strong and I know that he can come through this difficult period strongly. The others we must help to build their confidence." Race classification WSB Round: 2 - Australia Circuit: Phillip Island Circuit Length: 4448 Lap Record: 1' 32.402 (Troy Bayliss, 2006) Fastest Lap Ever:  1' 32.081 (Troy Bayliss, 2006) Race: 22 Laps  Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   T. Corser Suzuki  AUS  34' 33.545  2   A. Barros Honda  BRA  +0.450  3   J. Toseland Honda  GBR  +7.974  4   N. Haga Yamaha  JPN  +15.121  5   R. Rolfo Ducati  ITA  +16.292  6   T. Bayliss Ducati  AUS  +17.120  7   R. Xaus Ducati  ESP  +17.192  8   F. Nieto Kawasaki  ESP  +22.457  9   A. Pitt Yamaha  AUS  +22.490  10   C. Walker Kawasaki  GBR  +23.176  11   L. Lanzi Ducati  ITA  +28.347  12   Y. Kagayama Suzuki  JPN  +28.413  13   R. Laconi Kawasaki  FRA  +28.833  14   S. Martin Petronas  AUS  +28.977  15   M. Fabrizio Honda  ITA  +29.122  17   N. Abe Yamaha  JPN  +30.955  Race 2: 22 Laps  Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   T. Bayliss Ducati  AUS  34' 33.803  2   J. Toseland Honda  GBR  +5.528  3   A. Barros Honda  BRA  +14.312  4   N. Haga Yamaha  JPN  +16.208  5   A. Pitt Yamaha  AUS  +17.656  6   Y. Kagayama Suzuki  JPN  +20.832  7   R. Rolfo Ducati  ITA  +21.130  8   R. Xaus Ducati  ESP  +25.224  9   F. Nieto Kawasaki  ESP  +25.638  10   C. Walker Kawasaki  GBR  +26.007  11   M. Fabrizio Honda  ITA  +32.867  12   N. Abe Yamaha  JPN  +33.171  13   M. Neukirchner Ducati  GER  +33.211  14   P. Chili Honda  ITA  +34.314  15   S. Martin Petronas  AUS  +34.467  17   S. Gimbert Yamaha  FRA  +49.214  19   S. Nakatomi Yamaha  JPN  +49.120  Fastest Race Lap:   Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   T. Bayliss Ducati  AUS  1' 32.402  Championship standings WSB Pos.  Rider  Manufacturer  Nat. Points  1   Troy Bayliss Ducati  AUS 75  2   James Toseland Honda  GBR 74  3   Troy Corser Suzuki  AUS 63  4   Alex Barros Honda  BRA 55  5   Andrew Pitt Yamaha  AUS 45  6   Noriyuki Haga Yamaha  JPN 42  7   Roberto Rolfo Ducati  ITA 32  8   Michel Fabrizio Honda  ITA 25  9   Ruben Xaus Ducati  ESP 24  10   Fonsi Nieto Kawasaki  ESP 19  11   Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati  ITA 15  12   Norick Abe Yamaha  JPN 14  13   Yukio Kagayama Suzuki  JPN 14  14   Chris Walker Kawasaki  GBR 12  15   Karl Muggeridge Honda  AUS 11  21   Sebastien Gimbert Yamaha  FRA 3  Manufacturers standings WSB Pos. Manufacturer Points  1  Honda 78  2  Ducati 76  3  Suzuki 73  4  Yamaha 58  5  Kawasaki 22  6  Petronas 3  WSS : Double podium for Yamaha Motor Germany Round: 2 - Australia Circuit: Phillip Island Date: 5 March 2006 Crowd: 55000 Temp: 24ºC Weather: Sunny Yamaha Motor Germany riders Kevin Curtain and Broc Parkes took their first double podium finish of the year at round two of the Supersport World Championship in Philip Island. The Australian riders were involved in a race-long battle with world champion Sebastien Charpentier (Honda), with the two R6 riders breaking the lap record in the opening stages as they applied pressure to the Frenchman. Parkes demonstrated the new R6's speed by setting a new lap record on lap three, just minutes after Curtain had lowered Katsuaki Fujiwara's three year old record. Curtain passed Charpentier at MG corner to take the lead on lap five. However the two Yamaha riders succumbed to rear end traction problems in the later stages of the race, allowing Charpentier to take the win, while the Yamaha men rode sensibly to bring their machines home for valuable championship points.  Yamaha Team Italia riders Massimo Roccoli and Gianluca Vizziello brought their R6s home in tenth and 13th places respectively. FIM Superstock 1000 Cup champion Didier van Keymeulen finished 14th, with Javier Fores gaining a point for 15th. Former world superbike race winner Anthony Gobert ran as high as fifth on his GMT94 entered R6 but retired with set-up problems. Charpentier's win extends his championship lead to 10 points over second placed Curtain. Parkes' 16 points for third place moves him to fifth in the standings with two of the 13 races gone. Round three of the race takes place at the Ricardo Tormo circuit close to Valencia in Spain on April 23. Prior to that, the Yamaha Motor Germany squad will undertake tests in Misano and Valencia, where they plan to have new parts to increase the competitiveness of their machines. Kevin Curtain (Yamaha Motor Germany) I got in front of Charpentier a couple of times but every time I thought I could get a break on him, he came past again. It was close racing but always fair, because Sebastien and I trust each other. It's the first stage of race development for our new R6. So after Qatar and here, I think we can say that the first stage is going pretty well. I can't wait for the second stage - can't wait to get to Valencia now." Broc Parkes (Yamaha Motor Germany) "It's not my best result but I'm really happy to be on the podium here, because it's my first one in Australia. Having only done a lap last week this was really my first race of the season. I struggled to get my lines flowing today and I probably geared the bike a bit too low. I was able to run with Kevin and Seb in the opening laps, but when I was in the slipstream the bike was hitting the rev-limiter, which I knew wasn't good. I tried to stay with them but in the end it was better to take the third than try anything silly. I'm looking forward to Valencia as it is a track that suits my style." Massimo Roccoli (Yamaha Team Italia) "I am quite satisfied to finish in the top 10 in my first race at this circuit. I had a small problem with my braking, which meant that I could not brake as hard as I like into the hairpin but we have no problem with the traction and otherwise the bike was very good." Gianluca Vizziello (Yamaha Team Italia) "I am happy to get some points today. The front of the bike was sliding quite a lot and this meant I could not push as hard as I liked in the fast corners. So, some points are definitely better than none!" Anthony Gobert (Yamaha GMT94) "I had excessive chatter in the front, but I felt like I could still get into the top five. It got so bad I had to stop. We looked at the bike and everything seemed OK, but the chatter just continued and I had to retire." Terrell Thien (Team Manager - Yamaha Motor Germany) "The early season results have gone well for us. Always our plan was to get as many points as possible in these opening races so to get three podium finishes is as good as we can expect. We expect to have our next performance step for the Valencia race and as the championship goes to Europe we must now target race wins." Race classification WSS Round: 2 - Australia Circuit: Phillip Island Circuit Length: 4448 Lap Record: 1' 36.399 (Broc Parkes, 2006) Fastest Lap Ever:  1' 35.291 (Chris Vermeulen, 2003) Race: 21 Laps  Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   S. Charpentier Honda  FRA  34' 1.822  2   K. Curtain Yamaha  AUS  +1.361  3   B. Parkes Yamaha  AUS  +7.796  4   Y. Tibero Honda  FRA  +16.788  5   R. Harms Honda  DNK  +16.798  6   J. Brookes Ducati  AUS  +21.250  7   J. Stigefelt Honda  SWE  +21.344  8   D. Thomas Kawasaki  AUS  +26.309  9   C. Zaiser Ducati  AUT  +26.515  10   M. Roccoli Yamaha  ITA  +26.515  11   S. Le Grelle Honda  BEL  +29.839  12   M. Sanchini Yamaha  ITA  +34.988  13   G. Vizziello Yamaha  ITA  +36.328  14   D. Van Keymeulen Yamaha  BEL  +37.402  15   X. Fores Yamaha  ESP  +38.574  19   V. Ivanov Yamaha  RUS  +1' 15.849  20   C. Peris Yamaha  CAN  +1' 23.477  21   D. Garcia Yamaha  ITA  +1' 29.998  Fastest Race Lap:   Pos.  Rider Manufacturer  Nat. Total Time  1   B. Parkes Yamaha  AUS  1' 36.399  Championship standings WSS   Pos.  Rider  Manufacturer  Nat. Points  1   Sebastien Charpentier Honda  FRA 50  2   Kevin Curtain Yamaha  AUS 40  3   Robbin Harms Honda  DNK 21  4   Johan Stigefelt Honda  SWE 20  5   Broc Parkes Yamaha  AUS 16  6   Kenan Sofuoglu Honda  TUR 16  7   Joshua Brookes Ducati  AUS 16  8   Massimo Roccoli Yamaha  ITA 15  9   Christian Zaiser Ducati  AUT 15  10   Xavi Fores Yamaha  ESP 14  11   Yoann Tibero Honda  FRA 13  12   Gianluca Vizziello Yamaha  ITA 10  13   Sebastien Le Grelle Honda  BEL 10  14   Dean Thomas Kawasaki  AUS 8  15   Mauro Sanchini Yamaha  ITA 4  20   Didier Van Keymeulen Yamaha  BEL 2  21   Gianluca Nannelli Yamaha  ITA 1  Manufacturers standings WSS   Pos. Manufacturer Points  1  Honda 50  2  Yamaha 40  3  Ducati 18    4  Kawasaki 8