Haga on pole at Nurburgring
Added on Saturday, September 5th, 2009 by Carole Nash Editor
Haga on pole at Nurburgring
Noriyuki Haga took charge of the Nurburgring this afternoon, grasping his first Superpole of this season and his seventh overall.
Haga knows the historic circuit well, having scored a double victory at the German venue last season, Despite experiencing recent difficulties, the Ducati Xerox rider stormed to Pole with a time of 1:55.489, a time which he set in the final minutes of the third session, regardless of his still suffering from his Donington Park injury.
Commenting on his achievement, Haga said: “It’s been good to get back into things yesterday and today, also I did my best lap in Superpole. The bike is really good for the feeling. I like this track but it’s my first time here with Ducati so this is a good result. I needed a result like this for the championship battle, tomorrow I will just try and do my best.”
Just inches behind Haga, Brit Jonathan Rea was denied of his first Pole position by three-tenths of a second. Rea said: I put a pretty good lap in at the start and thought it was enough so I rolled off a bit, but all credit to Nori, that was a really good lap. The bike’s working really well here, I’m glad the guys didn’t fall asleep on holiday during the summer break! We’ve come back with some development parts on the bike. I really love this circuit, but I can sleep solid tonight and look forward to things tomorrow.”
Fellow Brit, Leon Haslam lines up on the grid third for the first of tomorrow’s World Superbike races, with Italian, Michel Fabrizio fourth, demoting championship contender, Ben Spies to fifth – following the Texan’s announcement of a new two year deal with Yamaha.
Troy Corser took sixth after a fraught qualifying session, with Max Biaggi seventh, Carlos Checa eighth, and Brits Tom Sykes and Shane Byrne completing the top ten.
Elsewhere, Briton’s hero in the World Supersport, Cal Crutchlow seized yet another Pole position in his bid for championship status.
