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. 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.
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.
Noriyuki Haga (2nd and 1st - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team)"In the first race I tried to ride 100% but the feel was not really there. 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. I am really happy today because everybody in the garage made a good job, so my thanks go to them."
Troy Corser (12th and 8th - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team)"I struggled to get a good set-up today and the bike didn't feel as fast as we hoped it would. The bike felt unbalanced so I found it difficult braking into corners, the tyre seemed to spin up more on exit making it harder to drive out. I just couldn't get comfortable with it. The bike was better in race two but it didn't really feel better."
Massimo Meregalli (Team Manager, Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team)"An unbelievable win for Noriyuki. His fender was touching his wheel and that was why we saw smoke coming from his machine a couple of times. We were all worried it was something else at one stage! We made the machine shorter between races and it seemed that the tyre was rubbing, but only sometimes. Nori rode really well today and we worked well to give him a winning bike. Troy had some problems that we could not get right for raceday. A huge thank you to everyone on the Yamaha team, we worked really hard at Monza this year, I'm very proud of the team."
Shinichi Nakatomi (13th and 12th - Team YZF Yamaha)"We changed the settings on the bike to make it easier. I made a mistake and lost positions in race one. In race two I had a good start but after five laps the rear tyre started to drop off. So we need to work on the electronics and the suspension to balance this."
Circuit Length: 5792
Temp: 22
Weather: Hazy
Race 1 - 18 Laps WSB Italy - Monza:1. Max Neukirchner - Suzuki - GER 32'2.851
2. Noriyuki Haga - Yamaha - JPN 0'0.0583. Troy Bayliss - Ducati - AUS 0'0.672
4. Yukio Kagayama - Suzuki - JPN 0'0.771
5. Max Biaggi - Ducati - ITA 0'3.869
6. Ryuichi Kiyonari - Honda - JPN 0'5.995
7. Fonsi Nieto - Suzuki - ESP 0'8.788
8. Carlos Checa - Honda - ESP 0'9.374
9. Michel Fabrizio - Ducati - ITA 0'10.667
10. Jakub Smrz - Ducati - CZE 0'10.771
11. Gregorio Lavilla - Honda - ESP 0'12.180
12. Troy Corser - Yamaha - AUS 0'14.71913. Shinichi Nakatomi - Yamaha - JPN 0'32.734
14. Lorenzo Lanzi - Ducati - ITA 0'36.550
15. Sebastien Gimbert - Yamaha - FRA 0'36.607
Race 2 - 18 Laps:
1. Noriyuki Haga- Yamaha - JPN 32'7.5762. Max Neukirchner - Suzuki - GER 0'0.009
3. Ryuichi Kiyonari - Honda - JPN 0'0.051
4. Fonsi Nieto - Suzuki - ESP 0'4.489
5. Michel Fabrizio - Ducati - ITA 0'10.272
6. Karl Muggeridge - Honda - AUS 0'10.376
7. Ruben Xaus - Ducati - ESP 0'10.496
8. Troy Corser - Yamaha - AUS 0'12.4989. Ayrton Badovini - Kawasaki - ITA 0'19.429
10. Gregorio Lavilla - Honda - ESP 0'26.373
11. Lorenzo Lanzi - Ducati - ITA 0'26.544
12. Shinichi Nakatomi - Yamaha - JPN 0'26.895
13. Russel Holland - Honda - AUS 0'27.761
14. Sebastien Gimbert - Yamaha - FRA 0'29.661
15. Michael Beck - Yamaha - USA 1'29.001
Best Lap: Noriyuki Haga - Yamaha - JPN 1'45.882
RIDER STANDINGS:1. Troy Bayliss - Ducati - AUS 194
2. Carlos Checa - Honda - ESP 116
3. Noriyuki Haga - Yamaha - JPN 1124. Max Neukirchner - Suzuki - GER 111
5. Fonsi Nieto - Suzuki - ESP 107
6. Troy Corser - Yamaha - AUS 1017. Ruben Xaus - Ducati - ESP 90
8. Max Biaggi - Ducati - ITA 65
9. Ryuichi Kiyonari - Honda - JPN 65
10. Gregorio Lavilla - Honda - ESP 59
11. Michel Fabrizio - Ducati - ITA 55
12. Yukio Kagayama - Suzuki - JPN 54
13. Lorenzo Lanzi - Ducati - ITA 49
14. Jakub Smrz - Ducati - CZE 41
15. Karl Muggeridge - Honda - AUS 35
20. Shinichi Nakatomi - Yamaha - JPN 16
23. Sebastien Gimbert - Yamaha - FRA 6
24. David Checa - Yamaha - ESP 5
MANUFACTURER STANDINGS: 1. Ducati 217
2. Yamaha 1713. Suzuki 158
4. Honda 135
5. Kawasaki 44
