Nori seeking first ever rider’s title
Added on Friday, October 23rd, 2009 by Carole Nash Editor
Nori seeking first ever rider’s title
Noriyuki Haga heads to Portimao with the upper hand as the World Superbike Championship reaches its climax this weekend but knows that he needs to improve on last year’s showing in Portugal.
Haga takes a ten-point lead into the final round of the season, knowing that he has his destiny in his own hands as he looks to beat Ben Spies to the WSB championship – his first after 12 years in WSB.
The Ducati will win guarantee himself the championship if he finishes ahead of Spies in both races or achieves at least 41 points over the weekend; equivalent to a win and a third place but knows that Portimao was not a good track to him when he made his first appearance there last year.
Haga, then with Yamaha and starting from 10th on the grid, retired from race one last year after 17 laps before labouring to a 14th place finish in race two, but the Japanese rider believes that he is in a better position this year to get the results that he needs and secure his first ever championship.
“Last year at Portimao didn’t go to plan; I had some bad luck,” he claimed. “This year I am in a better position and now everything comes down to this last event.
“My strategy won’t be any different from normal; I always go out with the aim to win and I always give 100%. I’ve finished second or third in the last five editions of the Superbike championship and so all I am missing is the title win, a title I hope to be able to bring home to Ducati and to Japan this weekend.”
