Haga hoping to exercise Portimao demons
Added on Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010 by Carole Nash Editor
Haga hoping to exercise Portimao demons
Noriyuki Haga will get an early opportunity to exercise a personal demon this weekend as he heads to Portimao for the second round of the World Superbikes Championship.
Haga, who started the season in Phillip Island with a third and fifth place despite an arm injury, heads to an unhappy hunting ground this weekend in Portugal looking to put right the wrongs of last season.
Haga went into the final round of last season at Portimao leading Ben Spies in the championship only for a poor qualifying performance and a crash in race one to hand his Yamaha rival the title in the final race of the season, prolonging the Japanese veteran’s 12 year spell in WSB without a championship.
Twelve months prior and Haga, then with Yamaha, suffered another nightmare at the same circuit, crashing in race one before only managing a 14th place finish in race two to end the championship in third place, behind then teammate Troy Corser.
But Haga is going to Portugal in a positive mood, having overcome a difficult pre-season and injury to secure a respectable result in Australia three weeks ago.
“I had a few problems during the races at Phillip Island as I had crashed that morning in warm-up, hurting my right arm and lower back,” he claimed. “The injuries made it hard for me to keep pace with Michel [Fabrizio], [Carlos] Checa and [Leon] Haslam and so I was fairly happy with my results and the points gained.
“Now I’m feeling a lot better and am looking ahead to the coming weekend. I haven’t had the best luck at the track over the last two years, so it’s not my favourite but we hope to score two good results.”
