HAGA SCORES FIRST PODIUM FOR R1
29 May 2005 - Yamaha Racing

Yamaha Motor Italia rider Noriyuki Haga claimed the Yamaha YZF-R1''s first Superbike World Championship podium finish in race two at Silverstone today.

The Japanese star battled for the lead in both races, with third place in race two making up for the disappointment of a race one retirement caused by fuel supply problems while set for a podium finish three laps from the end of the race.

Race one was a tough contest for Yamaha''s four supported riders. Haga''s team-mate Andrew Pitt rode through the pain barrier after highsiding in the morning warm-up session and was further handicapped by having to complete a ride through penalty in the opener. Despite this he finished 13th in race one, backing it up in race two with a fighting ninth at a circuit he has little love for.

A Silverstone rookie on any layout of the flat ex-airfield circuit, Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France) had a clutch problem in race one but took eighth in race two after a tough pass on Pitt in the final chicane. His team-mate Sebastien Gimbert (Yamaha Motor France was involved in a multi-rider crash, and chipped his left tibia, ruling him out of race two.

The first race was won by Regis Laconi (Ducati) from Troy Corser (Suzuki) and James Toseland (Ducati). In the second race, Toseland took the win, from Corser and Haga. Corser improved his championship lead to 78 points, with Pitt still top Yamaha rider, seventh on 70 points. Haga is eighth on 68, Abe tenth with 62 and Gimbert 14th, on 26.

Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia)
''I am very happy to make a podium for Yamaha, relatively early in the season. It was a tough race for the first few laps with the other riders and I was losing the front a lot on the last few laps. But I have to be happy with a podium after our bad luck in race one.''

Andrew Pitt (Yamaha Motor Italia)
''Abe shoved it into me in the last chicane, we both ran wide and he got me over the line. Nothing you can do about that. In race one the stop-and-go ruined things of course, but I carried on. It''s worth doing 28 laps to get even three points. I still don''t like the track, and I''m glad I don''t have to come back here for another year.''

Massimo Meregalli (Team Coordinator - Yamaha Motor Italia) ''Noriyuki was happy from practice yesterday onwards and he was confident when pushing with race tyres. In race one we had a problem, probably with the fuel pump but he did a fantastic job in both races. We were alone competing with Ducati and Suzuki so we are happy for the race two result. Andrew just didn''t like the track at all and although he did not say, I think he still had pain from when he crashed this morning.''

Norick Abe (Yamaha Motor France)
''It was my first time racing on this track so I could not go as fast as everyone else on day one. But we improved all weekend and we changed our settings again from yesterday. They worked well, and gave me quite good feel. The rear grip was not so good in race one, I don''t know why, but then the clutch went and I retired. In the first lap a lot of riders crashed in front of me in race two so all the guys at the front were gone, but I still got eighth. Not so bad, but Haga was third on an R1, so I must try harder.''

Sebastien Gimbert (Yamaha Motor France)
''My ankle is broken after the crash, a chip on my tibia, which showed up on the X-ray. It''s a chip, not a break right through, so I hope to be ready to race at Misano.''

Martial Garcia (Team Manager - Yamaha Motor France)
''Sebastien started practice here not so easily but for warm-up he found a good set up and he was happy for the first race start. Unfortunately as it turned out, it was the first time he has made a good start, so he got mixed up in the crash with Alfonsi, who lost the brakes. He pushed Nieto, and Nieto pushed Sebastien, so nothing he could do.''

www.yamaha-racing.com

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