Title no concern for Nori
Added on Friday, May 8th, 2009 by Carole Nash Editor
Title no concern for Nori
Noriyuki Haga has stressed that he is not thinking about the prospect of a first World Superbikes championship, despite holding a commanding 60-point lead in the rider’s standings.
The Xerox Ducati rider, who has never finished outside of the top two in the eight races so far this season, has amassed 180 points so far in the 2009, placing him ahead of Yamaha’s Ben Spies.
Four victories and four seconds, all of which have seen him finish behind Spies, has effectively left this season’s championship as a two-horse race but Haga has dismissed suggestions that his mind is already on the main prize.
“I am not thinking about the possibility of winning the championship,” he said. “I just think about each race, taking one weekend at a time. Of course at Monza I hope to win again, especially because it is my home circuit!”
The 34-year-old is also heading to this weekend’s round in Monza in high spirits, having won at the circuit on his last two visits.
“We did some testing at Monza recently and it was my first chance to rider the 1198 there,” he added. “Although we had a few problems, I know these will be resolved for the race weekend. I am already really excited about the Monza race.”
But whilst Haga heads to Monza very much in charge of the championship, his Ducati teammate Michel Fabrizio will be looking for a major improvement on his home circuit.
In a disappointing year so far, the 24 year-old’s results have failed to capture much attention despite his fourth place standing. Tyre problems resulted in two DNF’s at Qatar and the Italian has made the podium just twice this season – both in Valencia.
“I am in a hopeful mood ahead of Monza, the first of three “home” races so I want to do well of course,” said Fabrizio.
“We’ve done some testing there and the results of those tests were very positive. The tyres that Pirelli provided us with performed well and we hope this is the case during the race weekend too.
“A year ago I finished Race two here in fifth place, let’s say that this time around I hope to dramatically improve on that result in front of the Italian fans.”
