PATA Racing Aprilia rider Noriyuki Haga claims double second position at Imola, Italy – WSBK news
PATA Racing Team Aprilia rider Noriyuki Haga ended the 11th WSBK event at Imola with two second place finishes.
The Japanese rider once again marked his impressive fast pace aboard his factory Aprilia RSV4.
Before the recent Italian event, he held only two podium places on third positions. After running strong at Imola, he has stepped up in the championship points’ table and now ranks eighth with 155 points.
Haga said, “I'm really glad about this outcome achieved here, in front of my supporters. I had a bad start in race one and Rea was great, closing every gap. During the second one I started off even worse and that prevented a possible victory. I'll try again
next weekend when we'll be back on track in Magny Cours.”
The Japanese rider took the third seat on the grid and fought strongly with the top riders’ squad. In both races, he had a match with Carlos Checa and Jonathan Rea. Occasionally, he had a battle with Tom Sykes and Leon Camier.
Haga also delivered a strong race at the Nurburgring. The Japanese rider stood short of wining the German event of WSBK. However, his second place finish marks his best season finish from the 11 WSBK events and 22 races.
Even after being on the podium in both outings, he is a little disappointed from the event. The reason for his displeasure is not being able pace up for the win in both events.
Haga has won 43 races in his WSBK career. The Japanese rider also admitted that fact that he properly used his third position start on the grid, whereas Jonathan Rea galloped to cover every second of the time gap.
After a strong fight between Haga and Rea in the initial laps of race one, Rea steamed up to open the time gap from Haga. In the race, Rea retired but he faces another strong fighter Checa who was hungry to solidify his championship lead.
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