kneedown-madness for info on HAGA

One of the most entertaining racers in the world today, Noriyuki Haga rides with an aggressive style that has to be seen to be believed. Born in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, Haga got his start in motorcycling on a pocket bike when he was only four years old. Noriyuki honed his skills in the All Japan Superbike Championship and gained worldwide recognition in 1996 when he won the prestigious Suzuka 8-hour endurance race. Haga’s strong results continued in 1997 and he went on to take the All Japan Championship that year. 1998 saw Noriyuki move to the highly competitive World Superbike Championship. Five race wins in his first year showed he had the speed and Haga would go on to finish the points in sixth position. Another top-ten finish in 1999 established Noriyuki as one of the true superstars of the sport.
In 2000, Haga moved five steps closer to the title as he raced to an impressive second place finish in the championship. This year, Haga faces a brand new challenge as he takes on the world class riders and demanding bikes of the 500cc GP series. For most riders, this would be an incredibly difficult transition but Noriyuki has good reason to be confident. In 1998 Haga made a cameo appearance at a 500cc GP race in Japan. Noriyuki rode to an impressive third place finish in this rare GP appearance. With a high level of confidence and amazing bike control, Haga will be a competitive and exciting addition to this years 500cc GP Championship.

WSB signings latest: Haga, Emmett and Chili line up
7 Dec 2001
By Andy Downes

THE tantalising prospect of Noriyuki Haga sliding his way around the World Superbike series on an Aprilia will become a reality after the Japanese rider signed for the Italian factory.

Haga has been known to have wanted to return to WSB for much of the year and signed a letter of intent with Aprilia to race an RSV1000 a few weeks ago.

Haga has now signed a proper contract and will race a full-factory RSV on his favoured Dunlop tyres, but the team will be run by FGF Corse – not directly by the factory.

Although the bikes will be the same level as those run by the factory this year and will be run by the same man Giacomo Giudotti.

Haga said: " I’m excited about coming back to four-stroke bikes but more than anything because I’ll have an official Aprilia RSV Mille in 2002. This bike’s a winner. What’s more, I’ll have the pleasure of being with a team which has already notched up countless successes. I’ve been able to see the bikes close up and I must say I’m really impressed. "

HAGA

Haga has now signed an Aprilia contract and will be back on the superbikes he loves after a miserable season in GPs

Haga was scheduled to ride the bike for the first time this week if he had recovered from the tooth infection that caused him to miss the final GP of the year in Brazil. After being flown home from Brazil to Japan he collapsed and had to have two operations to cure the problem.

REVE/EMMETT DEAL CLOSER

THE team that took John Reynolds to the British superbike title this year is just a step away from getting a pair of works Aprilia RSV1000s to take Sean Emmett and a second rider into WSB.

Reve Red Bull racing, run by Ben Atkins, is already half way through getting the rumoured £2.5million it needs to make the deal a success after getting bikes promised by Aprilia.

Atkins made it clear after Reynolds choose to race with Suzuki in Britain that he was going to race abroad again and would not change his mind.

Atkins said: " I have had several meetings with Aprilia over the past couple of weeks and everything is sorted in regard to the bikes. All we need to sort out is some of the finance and then the deal will get sorted.

CHILI BACK ON A DUCATI?

IT looks increasingly likely that Pier-Francesco Chili might be back on a Ducati in 2002.

Chili reckons he will definitely be racing for the NCR Ducati team and posed with the team at the recent Bologna show.

There had been a question mark over financial backing for the team and Chili said in MCN a month ago that £2 million needed to be found or he would be forced to quit.

It now appears that while that target may not yet be reached, there is enough cash to set Chili and teammate Broc Parkes on the road with brand new Testastrettas supplied by Ducati Corse.

Chili said: " Step by step we are getting closer to finding enough cash for the team. I want to continue to race and I’m sure now I will be able to. Right now I am trying to stay calm by concentrating on my own training programme. Because the money is so late in coming it means I will miss testing in December but I’m sure we will be ready to start in January. That will not be a big problem. "

HAGA BACK ON IT!

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It was just as if he'd never been away! Noriyuki Haga settled back into being a World Superbike rider,

Aprilia plays down reliability fears

7 Feb 2002

Noriyuki Haga’s Aprilia team has dismissed the mechanical disasters it suffered at the Phillip Island WSB tests as a normal part of pre-season shake-downs.

Haga blew up three of the latest versions of the RSV1000’s in just two days and was forced to miss much of the second day after both bikes exploded within 30 minutes of each other.

An Aprilia spokesman said: " Failures like this are all natural at this time of year.

" We are not worried. We have already found solutions to the problems. It is more important for us to make sure Noriyuki is settled on the bike and happy with everything. "

One of the breakdowns was caused by a water pump failure and Haga continued unaware of the problem until the motor overheated and seized solid. Another blew to bits when primary gears broke. The third failure has not been explained.

A 10bhp boost found this winter comes as a result of lightening engine internals.